Abstract
Introduction
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is increasingly used for operable breast cancer (BC).
Appropriate radiation therapy (RT) fields (ie, whole breast [WB] ± regional nodal
irradiation [RNI]) in patients who were clinically node positive (cN1) but convert
to pathologically node negative (ypN0) after NAC are unknown and the subject of the
accruing NSABP B-51 trial. We sought to compare outcomes between WB RT with or without
RNI following breast conservation and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) alone in cN1,
ypN0 women following NAC.
Patients and Methods
We identified all BC patients with cN1, ypN0 who underwent NAC followed by lumpectomy
and SLNB between 2006 and 2015 in the National Cancer Database. RNI utilization was
evaluated using Cochran-Armitage test. Overall survival between WB RT alone versus
WB + RNI was compared using Kaplan-Meier with and without propensity score-based weighted
adjustment and multivariable (MVA) Cox proportional hazards.
Results
From 2006 to 2015, RNI use increased from 48.13% to 62.13% (Pfor trend <.001). The 10-year survival for WB alone versus WB + RNI was 83.6% and
79.5%, respectively (P= .14). On MVA analysis, the addition of RNI compared to WB alone was not associated
with a survival benefit (WB vs. WB + RNI: hazard ratio 0.80, 95% confidence interval,
0.58-1.11, P= .19). Results were unchanged after propensity score-based adjustment.
Conclusion
For women with cN1 BC who convert to ypN0 following NAC and breast conserving surgery
with SLNB alone, more extensive RNI may not provide a long-term survival benefit.
Prospective validation via the NSABP B-51 trial will be essential.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 11, 2021
Accepted:
June 4,
2021
Received in revised form:
June 3,
2021
Received:
January 18,
2021
Footnotes
Meeting Presentation: Abstract presented at the American Society of Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting (October 26, 2020, Virtual).
Identification
Copyright
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