Lymph node dissection may be unnecessary

• May 3, 2024

A new study found that many women diagnosed with breast cancer early, they do not need to go through a painful procedure like the removal of all lymph nodes from the armpit.

The surgery to remove the lymph nodes does not represent any type of advantage for about 20% of patients, of 40 thousand women investigated a year in the United States, who meet certain criteria, publishes the medical journal Journal of the American Medical Association.

There are two types of surgeries for the initial stage of breast cancer, surgery that operates and dissects the lymph nodes and surgery that only eliminates sentinel nodes. The sentinel lymph nodes they are the first lymph nodes where cancer cells could spread from the primary tumor.

For almost a century, surgeons have removed the lymph nodes Under the arms to breast cancer patients, thinking that such surgery will prolong the life of the woman and prevent the spread of cancer.

For a certain percentage of women, undergoing extensive surgery does not change the treatment plan, improves survival or makes the cancer less recurrent. It could even cause complications such as infection or inflammation.

"It's the longest study that shows that women who come out positive for sentinel lymph nodes do not necessarily need to undergo dissection of axillary lymph nodes when they are treated with radiation and chemotherapy. This could reduce complications, and change the way doctors diagnose patients, "he said. Dr.Jay Brooks , chief of hematology and oncology in Ochsner Health System in Los Angeles California.

The extensive surgery which involves removing the lymph nodes has been shown as unnecessary because the women in the studies were subjected to chemotherapy and radiation, which were probably the procedures that erased the condition of the lymph nodes. These therapies are now a standard procedure for patients with breast cancer due to the high possibility of its spreading to other organs.

This study has "obvious implications for patients", since much of the complications of breast cancer operations are more due to the process of axillary emptying than to the removal of the tumor itself. Monica Morrow , of the Sloan-Kettering Cancer of New York, and author of the study.

Source: New York Times and El País.

Video Medicine: Less is More For Lymph Node Removal (May 2024).