Quality of life in patients with non-metastatic breast cancer: evolution during follow-up and vulnerability factors.

OBJECTIVE: In women with breast cancer, many disease-related psychosocial factors directly affect quality of life (QoL) during and after treatment. The aims of this prospective study were to evaluate the psychosocial factors affecting QoL and its dimensions, to study their evolution over time, and to determine the factors associated with this evolution. METHODS: Thirty women with non-metastatic breast cancer were asked to complete a number of questionnaires evaluating QoL and its dimensions, symptoms of anxiety and depression, body image, social support, and coping strategies immediately after their diagnosis of breast cancer (T1), at the end of treatment (T2), and 6 months after the end of treatment (T3). RESULTS: Level of education, mastectomy, and hormonotherapy all had an impact on QoL. QoL and its dimensions changed over time. Coping strategies, social support, body image, and symptoms of anxiety and depression were predictive factors for QoL. CONCLUSION: The identification of these predictive factors should help medical teams to identify the patients who are most vulnerable and susceptible to poor QoL. In women with breast cancer, it is essential to identify and treat any changes in patients' need for support in an appropriate manner, both during the course of therapy and particularly during remission.

Sentinel node involvement with or without completion axillary lymph node dissection: treatment and pathologic results of randomized SERC trial.

Based on results of clinical trials, completion ALND (cALND) is frequently not performed for patients with breast conservation therapy and one or two involved sentinel nodes (SN) by micro- or macro-metastases. However, there were limitations despite a conclusion of non-inferiority for cALND omission. No trial had included patients with SN macro-metastases and total mastectomy or with >2 SN macro-metastases. The aim of the study was too analyze treatment delivered and pathologic results of patients included in SERC trial. SERC trial is a multicenter randomized non-inferiority phase-3 trial comparing no cALND with cALND in cT0-1-2, cN0 patients with SN ITC (isolated tumor cells) or micro-metastases or macro-metastases, mastectomy or breast conservative surgery. We randomized 1855 patients, 929 to receive cALND and 926 SLNB alone. No significant differences in patient's and tumor characteristics, type of surgery, and adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) were observed between the two arms. Rates of involved SN nodes by ITC, micro-metastases, and macro-metastases were 5.91%, 28.12%, and 65.97%, respectively, without significant difference between two arms for all criteria. In multivariate analysis, two factors were associated with higher positive non-SN rate: no AC versus AC administered after ALND (OR = 3.32, p < 0.0001) and >2 involved SN versus ≤2 (OR = 3.45, p = 0.0258). Crude rates of positive NSN were 17.62% (74/420) and 26.45% (73/276) for patient's eligible and non-eligible to ACOSOG-Z0011 trial. No significant differences in patient's and tumor characteristics and treatment delivered were observed between the two arms. Higher positive-NSN rate was observed for patients with AC performed after ALND (17.65% for SN micro-metastases, 35.22% for SN macro-metastases) in comparison with AC administered before ALND.

Overview of the pathological results and treatment characteristics in the first 1000 patients randomized in the SERC trial: axillary dissection versus no axillary dissection in patients with involved sentinel node.

BACKGROUND: Three randomized trials have concluded at non inferiority of omission of complementary axillary lymph node dissection (cALND) for patients with involved sentinel node (SN). However, we can outline strong limitations of these trials to validate this attitude with a high scientific level. We designed the SERC randomized trial ( ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT01717131) to compare outcomes in patients with SN involvement treated with ALND or no further axillary treatment. The aim of this study was to analyze results of the first 1000 patients included. METHODS: SERC trial is a multicenter non-inferiority phase 3 trial. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent factors associated with adjuvant chemotherapy administration and non-sentinel node (NSN) involvement. RESULTS: Of the 963 patients included in the analysis set, 478 were randomized to receive cALND and 485 SLNB alone. All patient demographics and tumor characteristics were balanced between the two arms. SN ITC was present in 6.3% patients (57/903), micro metastases in 33.0% (298), macro metastases in 60.7% (548) and 289 (34.2%) were non eligible to Z0011 trial criteria. Whole breast or chest wall irradiation was delivered in 95.9% (896/934) of patients, adjuvant chemotherapy in 69.5% (644/926), endocrine therapy in 89.6% (673/751) and the proportions were similar in the two arms. The overall rate of positive NSN was 19% (84/442) for patients with cALND. Crude rates of positive NSN according to SN status were 4.5% for ITC (1/22), 9.5% for micro metastases (13/137), 23.9% for macro metastases (61/255) and were respectively 29.36% (64/218), 9.33% (7/75) and 7.94% (10/126) when chemotherapy was administered after cALND, before cALND and for patients without chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: The main objective of SERC trial is to demonstrate non inferiority of cALND omission. A strong interaction between timing of cALND and chemotherapy with positive NSN rate was observed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT01717131 October 19, 2012.