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PurposeRestricted shoulder mobility is a major upper extremity dysfunction associated with lower quality of life and disability after breast cancer surgery. We hypothesized that a poloxamer and sodium alginate mixture (Guardix-SG®) applied after axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) would significantly improve shoulder range of motion (ROM) in patients with breast cancer.MethodsWe conducted a double-blind, randomized, prospective study to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Guardix-SG® for the prevention of upper extremity dysfunction after ALND. The primary outcome measure was shoulder ROM at baseline (T0) and 3 (T1), 6 (T2), and 12 months (T3) after surgery. Secondary outcome measures were the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score(DASH), pain associated with movement, which was assessed using a numeric rating scale, and lymphedema assessed using body composition analyzer.ResultsA total of 83 women with breast cancer were randomly assigned to either the Guardix-SG® group or the control group. In the Guardix-SG® group (n = 37), Guardix-SG® was applied to the axillary region after ALND. In the control group (n = 46), ALND was performed without using Guardix-SG®. Comparing ROM for shoulder flexion before surgery (178.2°) and 12 months after surgery (172.3°), that was restored 12 months after surgery in the Guardix-SG® group, and there was no statistically significant difference between that at before surgery and 12 months after surgery (p = 0.182). No adverse effect was observed in either group.ConclusionsThe results of this study have shown that Guardix-SG® help improve shoulder ROM without causing adverse effects in patients who underwent breast cancer surgery. However, there was no statistically significant difference from the control group. A further large-scale study is needed to obtain a more conclusive conclusion.Trial registrationCRISKCT0003386; https://cris.nih.go.kr (20181207).

Background Several oncoplastic approaches have been implemented in recent years to enhance cosmetic results and to reduce complications. The round block technique is a volume displacement technique for breast reconstruction after breast-conserving surgery (BCS). However, its indications are currently limited according to tumor location, and its cosmetic results and complications have not been clearly established. We hypothesized that the round block technique could produce favorable cosmetic results without major complications regardless of tumor location or nipple-tumor distance, below a certain resected tumor volume and tumor-breast volume ratio. Methods All breast reconstructions using the round block technique after BCS were included in this analysis. Patients’ data were reviewed retrospectively to investigate complications during follow-up, and clinical photos were used to evaluate cosmetic results. The relationships of tumor location, nipple-tumor distance, tumor volume, and the tumor-breast volume ratio with cosmetic results were investigated. Results In total, 108 breasts were reconstructed. The mean resected tumor volume was 30.2±15.0 mL. The cosmetic score was 4.5±0.6 out of 5. Tumor location, nipple-tumor distance, tumor volume, tumor-breast volume ratio, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy had no significant effects on cosmetic results or complications. There were no major complications requiring reoperation. Conclusions Breast reconstruction using the round block technique after BCS can lead to good cosmetic results without major complications regardless of the tumor location, nipple-tumor distance, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy. Below the maximum tumor volume (79.2 mL) and the maximum tumor-breast volume ratio (14%), favorable results were consistently obtained.

Rationale. Neo-adjuvant systemic therapy includes endocrine therapy and chemotherapy, which is widely used. Luminal breast cancer is resistant to chemotherapy and is more likely to not respond to chemotherapy before surgery. Palbociclib is a cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitor. Palbociclib with letrozole combination therapy was an effective chemotherapy in metastatic luminal type breast cancer and had fewer side effects; however, the benefit of palbociclib in neoadjuvant systemic therapy is unclear. Patient concerns A 50-year-old female patient visited our hospital with palpable lump in the right breast. The lymph nodes fixed in the ipsilateral axilla. Diagnosis The patient was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma of the right breast; the nuclear grade was moderate. The ipsilateral fixed lymph node was diagnosed as metastasis. The breast cancer subtype was luminal A type and was positive for estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor, and negative for HER2/neu and Ki-67 marker index

Summary: Background/Objective: The prognosis of hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative breast cancer is better than that of other subtypes. Current guidelines recommend chemotherapy for N1 breast cancer patients. However, this has the possibility to be over-treatment. Methods: This was a retrospective study of 18,549 patients who were surgically treated for invasive breast cancer, at a single center in South Korea, between January 1993 and December 2012. N1 stage breast cancer patients who were hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative were enrolled, and propensity score matching was performed to compare patients treated with anti-hormonal therapy alone (N = 83) and those treated with chemotherapy followed by anti-hormonal therapy (N = 85). Results: In survival analysis, the survival parameters of the endocrine therapy-only group and the chemotherapy with endocrine therapy group were respectively 96.1% and 94.0% for 5-year recurrence free survival (RFS), 89.6% and 94.0% for 10-year RFS, 97.4% and 94.0% for 5-year distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), 93.2% and 94.0% for 10-year DMFS, 98.7% and 98.8% for 10-year breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS), and 98.7% and 98.8% for 10-year overall survival (OS). There were no significant differences in RFS (p = 0.871), DMFS (p = 0.491), BCSS (p = 0.569) and OS (p = 0.731) between the two groups. Conclusion: Several patients with clinicopathologic features like hormone receptor positivity and HER2 negativity can avoid chemotherapy even with lymph node metastasis. Future studies with a long-term follow-up and a larger number of patients are required for validating our results. Keywords: Adjuvant endocrine therapy, Breast neoplasms, Luminal A breast cancer, Node-positive breast cancer, Prognosis