Breast Cancer Research News
Classe JM et al. Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Advanced Breast Cancer: Results of Ganglion Sentinelle et Chimiotherapie Neoadjuvante, a French Prospective Multicentric Study. J Clin Oncol. 2008 Dec 29. [Epub ahead of print]
Classe JM and colleagues investigated the detection rate, the false-negative rate, and the accuracy of sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) for advanced breast cancer. 195 patients enrolled from 12 institutions were recruited to a prospective multi-centre study. The authors observed that the detection rate was 90% (176 of 195 patients), and the false-negative rate was 11.5% (6 of 52 patients). Patients without axillary palpable nodes (N0) before NAC had a better detection rate compared with patients with axillary suspicious nodes (N1, 94.6% v 81.5%; P = 0.008). The false-negative rate was not correlated with clinical nodal status before NC (9.4% v 15%; P =0.66). This study confirms the feasibility of SLN biopsy after NC in locally-advanced operable breast cancer. The detection rate, false-negative rate, and accuracy are similar to those reported for early breast cancer without NC.
