Residual Axillary Metastases in Node-Positive Breast Cancer Patients After Neoadjuvant Treatment: A Register-Based Study

Lymph node (LN) metastasis after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) generally warrants axillary lymph node dissection, which opposes guidelines of upfront surgery in many cases. We investigated the risk of having additional metastases in the axilla when the LNs removed by targeted axillary dissection (TAD) harbored metastases after NACT. We aimed to identify subgroups suitable for de-escalated axillary treatment.

This register-based study used data from the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group database. Data were analyzed with logistic regression models. The primary outcome was the metastatic burden in non-TAD LNs in patients with positive TAD LNs after NACT.

Among 383 patients, < 66.6% positive TAD LNs (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.17–0.62), only isolated tumor cells (ITCs) [OR 0.11, 95% CI < 0.01–0.82], and breast pathological complete response (pCR) [OR 0.07, 95% CI < 0.01–0.56] were associated with a low risk of having more than three positive non-TAD LNs. In 315 patients with fewer than three positive non-TAD LNs, the proportion of positive TAD LNs (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.27–0.76 for 33.3–66.6% vs. > 66.6%), size of the TAD LN metastasis (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.04–0.54 for ITC vs. macrometastasis), tumor size at diagnosis (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.15–0.64 for 20–49 mm vs. ≥ 50 mm) and breast pCR (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.15–0.96) were associated with residual LN metastases in the axilla.

Breast pCR or ITC only in TAD LNs can, with reasonable certainty, preclude more than three positive non-TAD LNs. Additionally, patients with only ITCs in the TAD LN had a low risk of having any non-TAD LN metastases after NACT. De-escalated axillary treatment may be considered in both subgroups.