Dr. Morrow Discusses the Z11 Trial Focus on Morbidity

Monica Morrow, MD, chief, Breast Service, Department of Surgery; Anne Burnett Windfohr Chair of Clinical Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the morbidity focus of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Z11 trial.

The Z11 trial was a prospective randomized trial for patients with T1 and T2 clinically node negative breast cancer, with positive sentinel nodes, treated with breast conserving surgery, and whole breast irradiation, that determined if axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) was of benefit to patients. It established there was no survival benefit derived from ALND.

In an examination of the morbidity caused by ALND it was conferred that sentinel node biopsy was far more benefit because it caused fewer short-term surgical issues and long-term sequelae; including numbness in intercostobrachial nerve and lymphedema.