Key clinical point: Targeted axillary dissection (TAD) by marking the metastatic lymph node with 125I seeds before neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) showed excellent identification rates and ruled out the need for remarking before surgery.
Major finding: The identification rates of the marked lymph node (MLN) and sentinel node (SN) were 99.3% and 91.5%, respectively, with the TAD procedure being successful in 91.5% of patients based on the identification of both MLN and SN. Overall, 40.8% of patients achieved axillary pathologic complete response and could be spared from surgery.
Study details: Findings are from a cohort study including 142 patients with BC who underwent TAD after 125I seeds were placed before NACT.
Disclosures: This study was funded by Helsefonden. The authors did not report conflicts of interest.
Source: Munck F et al. Targeted axillary dissection with 125I seed placement before neoadjuvant chemotherapy in a Danish multicenter cohort. Ann Surg Oncol. 2023 (Apr 16). Doi: 10.1245/s10434-023-13432-4