One discussion last week included the ACOSOG Z0011 RCT.

Reference: Giuliano AE, et al. Effect of axillary dissection vs no axillary dissection on 10-year overall survival among women with invasive breast cancer and sentinel node metastasis: the ACOSOG Z0011 (Alliance) randomized control trial. JAMA. 2017 Sep 12;318(10):918-926. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.11470.

Summary: The results of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z0011 (ACOSOG Z0011) trial were first reported in 2005 with a median follow-up of 6.3 years. Longer follow-up was necessary because the majority of the patients had estrogen receptor-positive tumors that may recur later in the disease course. In this follow-up study, the authors sought to determine whether the 10-year overall survival of patients with 2 or fewer sentinel lymph node metastases treated with breast-conserving therapy and sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND) alone without axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is noninferior to that of women treated with axillary dissection.

Compared with ALND, SLND alone was found to be noninferior for overall survival. The 10-year overall survival rate was 86.3% in the SLND alone group and 83.6% in the ALND group. The unadjusted HR comparing overall survival between the SLND alone group and the ALND group was 0.85 (1-sided 95% CI, 0–1.16), which did not cross the prespecified noninferiority HR margin of 1.3. The HR for overall survival adjusting for adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, radiation, or a combination of these 3) and age for the SLND alone group compared with the ALND group was 0.93 (1-sided 95% CI, 0–1.28) (Table 2).