Sentinel lymph node biopsy compared with axillary lymph node dissection in early breast cancer: A meta-analysis
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 07/15/2011
Clinical Article
Wang Z et al. – SLNB can be recommended as preferred care for SLN-negative patients and selected patients with SLN-micrometastasis. Despite this, ALND remains the standard management in breast cancer patients with SLN-macrometastasis.
Methods- Meta-analysis to compare the effectiveness and safety of SLNB with ALND
- Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing SLNB with ALND in early breast cancer identified in Pubmed, Embase, and The Cochrane Library
- OS, DFS, regional lymph node recurrence, postoperative morbidity, and quality of life (QOL) between 2 groups were assessed by using methods provided by Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions
- 8 well-designed RCTs (total 8,560 patients; 4,301 for SLNB and 4,259 for ALND) included
- Meta-analysis showed that there was no statistical difference in OS (HR = 1.07, 95% CI: 0.90–1.27), DFS (HR = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.88–1.14), and regional lymph node recurrence (OR = 1.65, 95% CI: 0.77–3.56) between SLNB and ALND group, whether for SLN (+) subgroup or for SLN (?) subgroup
- SLNB results in significant reduction of postoperative morbidity and improved QOL
