Clipped Node Pathology as a Guide for Limited Axillary Surgery in Occult Breast Cancer

To evaluate pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients with occult breast cancer (OBC) treated with neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST), and to investigate whether pathologic changes in the pre-treatment biopsy-proven clipped axillary lymph node (ALN) reflect the residual axillary disease burden following NST.

Current international guidelines recommend ALN dissection for all patients with OBC. These patients have limited representation in studies of axillary surgery de-escalation.

Using data from an observational cohort study of patients diagnosed with OBC between 2010 and 2025, we estimated the probability of pCR, and the diagnostic test characteristics of the pre-treatment biopsy-positive clipped node pathology for evaluating residual axillary disease burden after NST.

Among 85 patients with OBC who received NST followed by surgery, pCR occurred in 12 (33.3%) of 36 with hormone receptor (HR)-positive/HER2-negative, 15 (83.3%) of 18 with HER2-positive, and 24 (77.4%) of 31 with HR-negative/HER2-negative disease. There were 46 (54.1%) patients who had a clip placed in the biopsy-proven positive node at diagnosis. Pathologic assessment of the clipped node had a specificity of 88.6% (95% CI: 75.1, 96.0%) and a false-negative rate (FNR) of 13.3% (95% CI: 2.9, 36.3%) in all OBC patients. In patients with cN1 or cN2 disease, the specificity was 86.2% (95% CI: 70.5, 95.2%) and FNR was 0% (95% CI: 0, 21.7%).

In patients with OBC, pathologic assessment of the clipped node can reflect disease burden in the remaining ALNs. Limited axillary surgery anchored in removal of the clipped node should be considered as a strategy for axillary staging following systemic therapy in selected patients with OBC, primarily those with cN1 or cN2 disease.