How important is the axillary nodal status for adjuvant treatment decisions at a breast cancer multidisciplinary tumor board? A survival analysis
11041 Background: Postoperative tumor board recommendations for breast cancer are mainly based on patient characteristics and tumor parameters such as size, histologic grade, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), hormone receptor and HER2/neu status. In the era of potential avoidance of axillary surgery in clinically node-negative patients we evaluate the impact of pathologic nodal status for adjuvant treatment decisions. Methods: The postoperative tumor board records of 207 consecutive breast cancer patients over a 1-year period were rediscussed without knowledge of pathologic nodal status. Differences between the two board recommendations for each patient were classified as major (chemo- and/or radiotherapy: present/absent) or minor (different chemotherapeutic protocols) discrepancies. The disease-free and overall survival rates among subgroups with different recommendations were calculated using Adjuvant! Online tool. The binary logistic regression was performed to analyze the impact of factors for prediction the major discrepancy subgroup. Results: The tumor board without information of pathologic nodal status resulted in treatment changes in 72 of the 207 patients studied (34.8%). Major discrepancies were observed in 37 patients (17.9%) leading to a complete shift of postoperative management. Disease-free and overall survival rates were not significantly different due to a balanced over- and undertreatment in this subgroup (21 cases with under-, 16 cases with overtreatment). The major discrepancies were related to LVI (P=0.001), postmenopausal status (P=0.047), and positive hormone receptor status (P=0.17) in the univariate setting. LVI was an independent parameter to predict the subgroup with major discrepancies performing a multivariate analysis (P=0.006; RR=4.5 [95%CI: 1.5–13.4]). Conclusions: The knowledge of pathologic nodal status is important for postoperative chemotherapy and postmastectomy radiotherapy indications. There is a risk for one third of all patients when avoiding axillary surgery to get an adjuvant therapy which differ from the current treatment guidelines. It is mandatory to know the nodal status for breast tumors with LVI. No significant financial relationships to disclose.