Axillary Dissection in Older Women With Clinically Node-Negative Breast Cancer

Caution was expressed at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting about potential adverse effects from one form of breast cancer treatment de-escalation. A poster warns about risks from omitting axillary sentinel node surgery in older women.   In this edition of OncTimesTalk correspondent Peter Goodwin hears about axillary dissection in older women with clinically node-negative breast cancer from Mariam Rana, MD, FRCSC, Oncology Surgeon with the University of Saskatchewan in Canada College of Medicine, in discussion with Robert Hills, DPhil, Chair of Medical Statistics at Oxford University Nuffield Department of Population Health, who leads the secretariat for the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group.   They discuss Rana’s ASCO poster that found the omission of axillary surgery to stage the axilla may be associated with a higher risk of overall mortality in older women with early-stage breast cancer, compared to those who have this surgery.