In this clinically node negative TNBC cohort, all NAC-treated patients were node negative at surgery, whereas 17% of PS patients had involved axillary nodes. NAC should be considered for clinically node negative TNBC to reduce the extent of axillary surgery even if breast conservation is not planned.

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During a 4-year period (2014During a 4-year period ( -2017, 3491 duplex ultrasound examinations of abdominal aortas were performed in an Intersocietal Accreditation Commission-accredited vascular laboratory. The self-reported compliance rate of patients with 8-hour fasting before examination was 78%. The quality of imaging was assessed by vascular technologists as adequate in 61.2% of the cases. Interpreting physicians indicated quality of images as acceptable in 87.1% of the cases. From February to December 2018, there were 23 patients who were randomly assigned to three groups of preparation to vascular testing: fasting, clear liquids only, and regular diet. Examining ultrasonographers and interpreting physicians were blinded to the group assignment. The quality of images was defined as acceptable if the ultrasonographer was able to complete the protocol without technical difficulties and the interpreting physician was able to obtain all necessary information. Imaging limitations were classified as due to intestinal gas or other reasons (calcification, body habitus).Results: There were no differences between the groups in body weight (P ¼ .7), body mass index (P ¼ .9), or aorta size (P ¼ .6; Kruskal-Wallis test). Acceptable image quality was reported in 67% of fasting patients, in 71% of patients with clear liquid intake, and in 71% of patients on regular diet. Adjustments for body mass index comparison showed that the proportion of acceptable image quality in the retrospective cohort was almost identical to that in the group on the regular diet. Sample size calculations based on the data from the randomized trial showed that >4000 patients needed to be enrolled to achieve sufficient power.Conclusions: Findings of this study strongly indicate that restrictions of food intake before a duplex ultrasound examination of the abdominal aorta have minimal if any effect on the quality of imaging and should be discontinued.

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