Utility of Routine Axillary Ultrasound Surveillance in Breast Cancer Survivors with Previously Diagnosed Metastatic...

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of routine axillary ultrasound surveillance in asymptomatic T1 or T2 breast cancer patients with 1 to 2 positive axillary nodes that did not undergo axillary lymph node dissection.

A retrospective review of our institutional database identified axillary and breast ultrasound examinations performed between February 1, 2011, and August 31, 2017, in asymptomatic T1 or T2 breast cancer patients with 1 to 2 positive axillary nodes that did not undergo axillary lymph node dissection. From the electronic medical record, patient demographics, imaging data, pathology results, and surgical reports were extracted. Positive predictive values (PPVs) 2 and 3 and cancer detection rate (CDR) were calculated with exact 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

An average of 2.1 surveillance examinations was performed in 77 unique patients, yielding 160 total examinations. For 7 patients, 7 biopsies were recommended, and 5 biopsies were performed. No malignancy was diagnosed, yielding a PPV2 of 0% (0/7) (95% CI = 0% to 35%); PPV3 of 0% (0/5) (95% CI = 0% to 45%), and CDR of zero per 1000 (0/160) examinations (95% CI = 0 to 19).

Given the low frequency of axillary recurrence, routine axillary surveillance ultrasound in women with T1 or T2 breast cancers and 1 to 2 positive lymph nodes would be expected to have a low incremental CDR compared to clinical evaluation alone. Axillary surveillance ultrasound should not be routinely recommended or performed.