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Imaging of the axilla before preoperative chemotherapy: Implications for postmastectomy radiation
Author(s) -
Bazan Jose G.,
White Julia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.28859
Subject(s) - medicine , axilla , radiology , general surgery , radiation therapy , chemotherapy , mastectomy , medical physics , breast cancer , surgery , cancer
Postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) improves breast cancer survival in many women with lymph node‐positive disease who undergo surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. The role of PMRT after women receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is less clear. The available data suggest that clinical extent of disease at presentation before NAC, pathologic residual disease (especially pathologically involved lymph nodes) after NAC, and response to NAC are key prognostic factors for locoregional recurrence. Therefore, accurate axillary staging before the initiation of NAC and assessment of response to chemotherapy are critically important. Here, the authors review the literature addressing the radiotherapy management of patients with breast cancer who received NAC and underwent mastectomy with a special focus on the imaging modalities used to assess axillary lymph node status. Cancer 2015;121:1187–1194. © 2014 American Cancer Society .