Purpose
Axillary staging before neoadjuvant systemic therapy in clinically node-positive breast cancer patients with tailored axillary treatment according to the Marking Axillary lymph nodes with ...radioactive iodine seeds (MARI)-protocol, a protocol developed at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, is performed with
18
F fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT). We aimed to assess the value of FDG-PET/CT in prone compared to standard supine position for axillary staging.
Methods
We selected patients with FDG-PET/CT in supine and prone position who underwent the MARI-protocol. One hour after administration of 3.5 MBq/kg,
18
FFDG-PET was performed with a low-dose prone position CT-thorax followed by a supine whole-body scan. Scans were separately reviewed by two nuclear medicine physicians and categorized by number of FDG-positive axillary lymph nodes (ALNs; cALN<4 or cALN≥4). Main outcome was axillary up- or downstaging.
Results
Of 153 patients included, 24 (16%) patients were up- or downstaged at evaluation of prone images: One observer upstaged 14 patients, downstaged 3 patients and reported a higher number of ALNs (3.6 vs. 3.2,
p
< 0.001), while staging (4 up- and 5 downstaged) and number of ALNs (2.8 vs. 2.8) did not differ for the other. Observers agreed on up- or downstaging in only 1 (1%) patient. Irrespective of supine or prone position scanning, observers agreed on axillary staging in 124 (81%) patients and disagreed in 5 (3%). Interobserver agreement was lower with prone assessments (86%,
K
= 0.67) than supine (92%,
K
= 0.80).
Conclusions
Axillary staging with FDG-PET/CT in prone compared to supine position did not result in concordant up- or downstaging. Therefore, FDG-PET/CT in supine position only can be considered sufficient for axillary staging.
Quality care in breast cancer is higher if patients are treated in a Breast Center with a dedicated and specialized multidisciplinary team. Quality control is an essential activity to ensure quality ...care, which has to be based on the monitoring of specific quality indicators. Eusoma has proceeded with the up-dating of the 2017 Quality indicators for non-metastatic breast cancer based on the new diagnostic, locoregional and systemic treatment modalities.
To proceed with the updating, EUSOMA setup a multidisciplinary working group of BC experts and patients’ representatives. It is a comprehensive set of QIs for early breast cancer care, which are classified as mandatory, recommended, or observational. For the first time patient reported outcomes (PROMs) have been included. As used in the 2017 EUSOMA QIs, evidence levels were based on the short version of the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
This is a set of quality indicators representative for the different steps of the patient pathway in non-metastatic setting, which allow Breast Centres to monitor their performance with referring standards, i.e minimum standard and target.
Monitoring these Quality Indicators, within the Eusoma datacentre will allow to have a state of the art picture at European Breast Centres level and the development of challenging research projects.
•Set of comprehensive quality indicators in breast cancer care.•Breast Cancer Care quality indicators to monitor Breast Centre performance.•Breast Cancer quality indicators based on the patient pathway.
Background
In breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST), MRI is used pre- and post-NST for response monitoring. The relevance of additional MRI-detected lesions in these ...patients is unclear. Therefore, we aimed to assess the impact of pre-NST MRI-detected additional lesions on surgical treatment and outcome.
Methods
We retrospectively selected all early-stage breast cancer patients with MRI pre-NST at our institute from January 2010–2015. MRI-detected lesions were defined as separated from the index tumor and occult at conventional mammography and ultrasound. Outcomes were change in surgical treatment and five-year recurrence-free and overall survival.
Results
Overall, MRI detected additional lesions in 206 (31%) of 656 patients: in 160 patients in the ipsilateral breast and in 78 contralateral breasts, including 32 bilateral cases. Ipsilateral lesions were mostly categorized BI-RADS 5 (54 %) and contralateral lesions BI-RADS 3 (64%). Targeted ultrasound was performed in 115 (56%) patients: in 70 ipsilateral and in 64 contralateral cases. Biopsy was obtained in 44 (28% of 160) ipsilateral and 50 (64% of 78) contralateral breasts, containing tumor foci in 20 (13% of 160) and 11 (14% of 78) cases, respectively. Surgical treatment changed in 54 (26% of 206) patients: 19 (9%) had mastectomy, 24 (12%) had wider local excision and 11 (5%) underwent contralateral surgery. Five-year recurrence-free and overall survival did not differ for patients with local excision or mastectomy.
Conclusion
Pre-NST MRI-detected additional lesions in 31% of patients, resulting in more extensive surgery in 26% of these patients, including 5% contralateral surgeries.
In immediate implant-based breast reconstruction (IBBR), large variation is observed in current practices between a direct-to-implant and a two-stage approach (insertion of a breast implant after a ...tissue expander). This population-based study aimed to compare unplanned short- and long-term revision incidence between direct-to-implant and two-stage IBBR in The Netherlands.
All patients who underwent immediate IBBR following a mastectomy between 2015 and 2019 were selected from the nationwide Dutch Breast Implant Registry. Short- and long-term unplanned revision incidences were studied per immediate IBBR, including revision indications and the total number of additional operations. Confounding by indication was limited using propensity score matching.
A total of 4512 breast implants (3948 women) were included, of which 2100 (47%) were for direct-to-implant IBBR and 2412 (53%) were for two-stage IBBR. Median (IQR) follow-up was 29 months (range, 16 to 45 months) and 33 months (range, 21 to 47 months), respectively. Short-term revision incidence was 4.0% and 11.7%, respectively (conditional OR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.42%). Long-term revision incidence was 10.6% (95% CI, 9.2 to 12.1%) and 16.4% (95% CI, 14.8 to 17.9%), respectively. In the propensity score-matched cohort, similar results were found. In the direct-to-implant group, more breasts were reconstructed within the planned number of operations than in the two-stage group.
Unplanned revision surgery occurred less often after direct-to-implant IBBR, and more breasts were reconstructed within the planned number of operations compared to two-stage IBBR. These results, based on real-world data, are important for improving patient counseling and shared decision-making.
Risk, II.
Background
Selective removal of initially tumor-positive axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant systemic treatment (NST) improves the accuracy of nodal staging and ...provides the opportunity for more tailored axillary treatment. This study evaluated whether radioguided occult lesion localization (ROLL) of clip-marked lymph nodes is feasible in clinical practice.
Methods
Prior to NST, a clip marker was placed inside a proven tumor-positive lymph node in all breast cancer patients (cTis-4N1-3 M0). After NST, technetium-99m-labeled macroaggregated albumin was injected in the clip-marked lymph nodes. The next day, these ROLL-marked nodes were selectively removed at surgery to evaluate the pathological response of the axilla.
Results
Thirty-seven patients (38 axillae) underwent clip insertion. After NST, the clip was visible by ultrasound in 36 procedures (95%). In the other two patients, the ROLL-node injection was performed in a sonographically suspicious unclipped node (1), and near the clip under computed tomography guidance (1). Initial surgery successfully identified the ROLL-marked node with clip in 33 procedures (87%). Removed specimens in the other five procedures contained only the sonographically suspicious tumor-positive unclipped node (1), a node with signs of complete response but no clip (2), a clip without node (1), and tissue without node nor clip, and a second successful ROLL-node procedure was performed (1). Overall, 10 ROLL-marked nodes had no residual disease.
Conclusions
This study demonstrates that the ROLL procedure to identify clip-marked lymph nodes is feasible. This facilitates selective removal at surgery and may tailor axillary treatment in patients treated with NST.
Pathological complete remission (pCR) of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer is rarely achieved after neoadjuvant chemotherapy ...(NAC). In addition, the prognostic value of pCR for this breast cancer subtype is limited. We explored whether response evaluation by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is associated with recurrence-free survival after NAC in ER-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer.
MRI examinations were performed in 272 women with ER-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer before, during and after NAC. MRI interpretation included lesion morphology at baseline, changes in morphology and size, and contrast uptake kinetics. These MRI features, clinical characteristics and final pathology were correlated with recurrence-free survival.
The median follow up time was 41 months. There were 35 women with events, including 19 breast-cancer-related deaths. On multivariable analysis, age younger than 50 years (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.55, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.3, 5.02, p = 0.007), radiological complete response after NAC (HR = 14.11, CI 1.81, 1818; p = 0.006) and smaller diameters of washout/plateau enhancement at MRI after NAC (HR = 1.02, CI 1.00, 1.04, p = 0.036) were independently associated with best recurrence-free survival. Pathological response was not significant; HR = 2.12, CI 0.86, 4.64, p = 0.096.
MRI after NAC in ER-positive/HER2-negative tumors may be predictive of recurrence-free survival. A radiological complete response at MRI after NAC is associated with an excellent prognosis.
Abstract Purpose The aim of this prospective study was to assess the incidence of extra-axillary lymph node involvement on baseline FDG PET/CT in patients with stage II–III breast cancer scheduled ...for neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods Patients with invasive breast cancer of >3 cm and/or proven axillary lymph node metastasis were included for before neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. Baseline ultrasound of the infra- and supraclavicular regions was performed with fine-needle biopsy as needed. Subsequently FDG PET/CT was performed. All visually FDG-positive nodes were regarded as metastatic based on the previously reported high specificity of the technique. Results Sixty patients were included. In 17 patients (28%) extra-axillary lymph nodes were detected by FDG PET/CT, localised in an intra-mammary node (1 lymph node in 1 patient), mediastinal (2 lymph nodes in 2 patients), internal mammary chain (9 lymph nodes in 8 patients), intra- and interpectoral (6 lymph nodes in 4 patients), infraclavicular (5 lymph nodes in 4 patients) and in the contralateral axilla (3 lymph nodes in 2 patients). Ultrasound-guided cytology had detected extra-axillary lymph node involvement in seven of these patients, but was unable to detect extra-axillary nodes in the other 10 patients with positive extra-axillary lymph nodes on FDG PET/CT. Radiotherapy treatment was altered in 7 patients with extra-axillary involvement (12% of the total group). Conclusions FDG PET/CT detected extra-axillary lymph node involvement in almost one-third of the patients with stage II–III breast cancer, including regions not evaluable with ultrasound. FDG PET/CT may be useful as an additional imaging tool to assess extra-axillary lymph node metastasis, with an impact on the adjuvant radiotherapy management.
Purpose
The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of
18
F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT to visualize lymph node metastases before the start of neoadjuvant ...chemotherapy and to determine how often the visualization is sufficiently prominent to allow monitoring of the axillary response.
Methods
Thirty-eight patients with invasive breast cancer of >3 cm and/or lymph node metastasis underwent FDG PET/CT before neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The results of the FDG PET/CT were compared with those from ultrasonography with fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology or sentinel node biopsy. Patients suitable for response monitoring of the axilla were defined as having either a maximum standardized uptake value (SUV
max
) ≥ 2.5 or a tumour to background ratio ≥5 in the most intense lymph node.
Results
The sensitivity and specificity of FDG PET/CT in detecting axillary involvement were 97 and 100%, respectively. No difference existed between the SUV
max
of the primary tumour and that from the related most intense lymph node metastasis. Moreover, the mean tumour to background ratio was 90% higher in the lymph nodes compared to the primary tumour (
p
= 0.006). Ninety-three per cent of the patients had sufficient uptake in the lymph nodes to qualify for subsequent response monitoring of the axilla. A considerable distinction in metabolic activity was observed between the different subtypes of breast cancer. The mean SUV
max
in lymph node metastases of oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive, triple-negative and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive tumours was 6.6, 11.6 and 6.6, respectively.
Conclusion
The high accuracy in visualizing lymph node metastases and the sufficiently high SUV
max
and tumour to background ratio at baseline suggest that it is feasible to monitor the axillary response with FDG PET/CT, especially in triple-negative tumours.
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