What we learned in axillary management of breast cancer patients at the American society of clinical oncology (ASCO) 2020 virtual meeting? The EUBREAST point of view

Axillary surgery in the case of limited involved axillary lymph nodes

“…This demonstrates that not even in the situation where the safety of de-escalation is proven with a 10-year follow-up it is common practice among breast surgeons to spare patients the side effects of ALND. In contrast to these data from the US survey, a statement of the European group of breast surgeons [European Breast Cancer Research Association of Surgical Trialists (EUBREAST)] describes the omission of ALND in cases of nodal involvement limited to the sentinel nodes as widely accepted ( 6 ). Although the authors of this editorial align with that standpoint and do recommend omission of ALND if the ACOSOG Z0011 criteria are fulfilled, we suggest caution when transferring the results of Z0011 to settings not investigated (or underrepresented) in the trial.…”