It used to be that patients with breast cancer requiring surgery had Radical Mastectomy until the 1970’s. It subsequently became clear that Modified Radical Mastectomy, a less aggressive surgical procedure was just as effective as Radical Mastectomy. The next major surgical advance in Breast Cancer was breast preservation with Lumpectomy, Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (ALND) and Radiation. This has been proven to be as good as Modified Radical Mastectomy. Because of the morbidity associated with complete ALND, the technique of Sentinel Lymph Node Dissection (SLND) was developed and it became clear that SLND by itself is as effective as ALND, in early breast cancer, without the complications associated with ALND.
A randomized clinical trial results published in JAMA this month demonstrated that in women with invasive breast cancer and limited sentinel lymph node metastases, SLND was as effective as ALND. With this data, women diagnosed with breast cancer hopefully will not have to endure the morbidity associated with ALND which include swelling, pain, paresthesias and restriction of movement of the arm.
This philosophy of ” more is not better” with regards to chemotherapy, held ground, after myeloablative therapy and transplantation for metastatic breast cancer patients showed no benefit. Hopefully newer “kinder and gentler” systemic agents will follow suit, just as the surgical techniques have evolved over the past 40 years.
