Has anyone seen this latest bit of info:-
“Lymph Node Study Upends Pillar of Breast Cancer Care” at:
nytimes.com/2011/02/09/health/research/09breast.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
This says that:
For about 20 percent of patients, removing cancerous nodes, a painful measure that can cause complications, does not improve survival or prevent recurrence, researchers say.
Interesting…
XXX
Hello Many thanks for this , now I feel so much better about the treatment plan i had - no clearance of lymphnodes even though cancer found in first 2 on SNB.
Surprisingly the full research article from the journal is available to see (without paying ) - click on “an editorial accompanying the study” , on the first page of the link you gave (New York Times) then click
on FULL TEXT at the bottom of that new page.
Need to note that this only applies in certain patients - as the report says -
" Patients were women with clinical T1-T2 invasive
breast cancer, no palpable adenopathy, and 1 to 2 SLNs containing metastases iden-
tified by frozen section, touch preparation, or hematoxylin-eosin staining on perma-
nent section. All patients underwent lumpectomy and tangential whole-breast irra-
diation. Those with SLN metastases identified by SLND were randomized to undergo ALND
or no further axillary treatment."
So this doesnt apply to cancers of a higher grade or larger. these were less than 2 inches I think it said .
BUT ALSO - THIS RESEARCH WAS FINISHED IN 2004 and is only just published. thats bad.
Thansk again. Kirsty
I thank you for this i have been arguing about this with my oncologist for some time, i think because im grade 3 and border 2"" T0 as i have no tumour CUP cancer. i probably will still have to have the full node removal in April but i will send this to my surgeon and see what he says about it.
I have read further and more recent studies that say the survival difference is only 1.2 different and the most recent research read says remove lymph nodes. So i say the jury is still out on this one. My surgeon did say if the nodes were removed he wouldnt radiate the nodes because it would increase the risk of lymphodeama but would still radiate the surpacalvical and the breast.