Does Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Affect Lymph Node Harvest Rates?

Does Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Affect Lymph Node Harvest Rates? Am Surg. 2019 Jul 01;85(7):690-694 Authors: White RL, Palmer PP, Trufan SJ, Sarma D Abstract Some authors report that patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy have fewer lymph nodes harvested during axillary dissection and more dissections with < 10 nodes compared with patients who undergo surgery initially. We sought to determine whether there was a difference between these patient groups in terms of number of nodes harvested and number of dissections with < 10 nodes. Retrospective review of 258 patients diagnosed with breast cancer who underwent an axillary lymph node dissection between July 1, 2015, and December 31, 2017 was performed. Chi-squared test was used to assess differences between patient groups. Of 258 patients undergoing dissection, 48 per cent received neoadjuvant chemotherapy; 52 per cent underwent surgery as first therapeutic intervention. Mean number of nodes resected; 14.3 + 6.3 for patients with no prior chemotherapy versus 14.9 + 6.6 for patients with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.48). For patients undergoing surgery as first intervention, 21 per cent had < 10 nodes harvested. For patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 20 per cent had < 10 nodes harvested. Patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy showed no statistically significant difference in the number of lymph nodes harvested during axillary dissect...
Source: The American Surgeon - Category: Surgery Authors: Tags: Am Surg Source Type: research