Dear Editor,In early breast cancer,the prognostic value of the num-ber of macroscopically metastasized axillary nodes has been recognized in earlier reports[1].However,the impact of microscopic tumour cell deposits on...Dear Editor,In early breast cancer,the prognostic value of the num-ber of macroscopically metastasized axillary nodes has been recognized in earlier reports[1].However,the impact of microscopic tumour cell deposits on the sur-vival outcome of early breast cancer patients is still debated[2].This issue has gained increasing attention since the implementation of sentinel node biopsy in axil-lary node staging for tailoring breast cancer treatments,and the status of the single resected node would deter-mine the clinical decision of whether or not to perform the axillary lymph node dissection[3].Moreover,this issue raises more questions on whether to administer primary or adjuvant systemic treatment for patients with lymph nodes bearing isolated tumour cells(pN0[i+])or micrometastases(pN1mi).Despite the wide debate on the clinical treatment dilemma encountered by early breast cancer patients with microscopic tumour cell deposits,the biology underlying different pathologi-cal presentations at microscopic level(pN0,pN0[i+],pN1mi)and the disease outcomes remain poorly known.In an attempt to shed some light on this topic,we have analyzed,in the context of dormancy-based metastasis development model[4],early breast cancer patients con-ventionally classified as pN0(tumour foci with largest diameter≤2 mm)[5]by systematically reassessing their tumor recurrence dynamics following primary tumour resection at a single institution.展开更多
文摘Dear Editor,In early breast cancer,the prognostic value of the num-ber of macroscopically metastasized axillary nodes has been recognized in earlier reports[1].However,the impact of microscopic tumour cell deposits on the sur-vival outcome of early breast cancer patients is still debated[2].This issue has gained increasing attention since the implementation of sentinel node biopsy in axil-lary node staging for tailoring breast cancer treatments,and the status of the single resected node would deter-mine the clinical decision of whether or not to perform the axillary lymph node dissection[3].Moreover,this issue raises more questions on whether to administer primary or adjuvant systemic treatment for patients with lymph nodes bearing isolated tumour cells(pN0[i+])or micrometastases(pN1mi).Despite the wide debate on the clinical treatment dilemma encountered by early breast cancer patients with microscopic tumour cell deposits,the biology underlying different pathologi-cal presentations at microscopic level(pN0,pN0[i+],pN1mi)and the disease outcomes remain poorly known.In an attempt to shed some light on this topic,we have analyzed,in the context of dormancy-based metastasis development model[4],early breast cancer patients con-ventionally classified as pN0(tumour foci with largest diameter≤2 mm)[5]by systematically reassessing their tumor recurrence dynamics following primary tumour resection at a single institution.
