“Survival was independent of lymph node status and was so good in both groups that longer follow-up has little likelihood of demonstrating any difference between the [two] groups,” they noted. “Taken together, findings from these [and other] investigators provide strong evidence that patients undergoing partial mastectomy, whole-breast irradiation, and systemic therapy for early breast cancer with microscopic sentinel lymph node metastasis can be treated effectively and safely without axillary node dissection.”
DR. CARLSON and DR. WOOD are at Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta. They reported no financial conflicts of interest. These comments were taken from their editorial that accompanied Dr. Giuliano's report (JAMA 2011;305:606-7).