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NCT00003855 · CITED IN SOURCE DOCUMENTS

Lymph Node Removal in Treating Women Who Have Stage I or Stage IIA Breast Cancer

An NCI or FDA source cites this study. A citation does not establish that it applies to an individual diagnosis.

Phase
PHASE3
Status at capture
COMPLETED
Registry last update
2020-04-29

RATIONALE: Surgery to remove lymph nodes in the armpit may remove cancer cells that have spread from tumors in the breast. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to determine the effectiveness of removing lymph nodes in the armpit in treating women who have stage I or stage IIA breast cancer.

Open the original ClinicalTrials.gov record → · Download preserved record

What did the study report?

Outcomes, safety and baseline populations are separate source sections. Quality-of-life measures appear under their original outcome titles.

No posted result sections were captured. Registered plans do not establish that a treatment works.

Who could take part
eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria: PLEASE NOTE: Patients registered to this study may undergo intra-operative or post¬operative randomization. 1. Patient must be female. 2. Patient must be at least 18 years of age. 3. Patient's clinical stage must be documented as tumor size less than 5 cm, with no palpable nodes and no evidence of metastatic disease (T1 or T2 N0 M0; see appendices for staging criteria) and the tumor documented as amenable to lumpectomy. 4. Patient must have a tissue diagnosis of invasive breast carcinoma. Note: A patient can be registered to this study if they have a cytologic diagnosis suggestive of carcinoma from a fine needle aspiration (FNA) of a palpable or non-palpable breast lesion and the investigator believes the breast lesion is clinically suspicious for invasive breast carcinoma. 5. Date of the patient's first tissue diagnosis of invasive breast carcinoma or cytologic diagnosis of carcinoma must be no more than 60 days prior to the SLND. 6. The patient who had BCT (segmental mastectomy) performed previously, and is now referred to the local investigator for SLND, is eligible if the BCT was less than or equal to 60 days prior to the SLND. NOTE: Copies of the operative and pathology reports must be submitted as part of the registration process. 7. Patient must have ECOG/Zubrod status =2, as documented in patient's medical record. 8. Patient must be available for follow-up. 9. Patient of childbearing potential must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 14 days of beginning study interventions. 10. Patient must have access to radiation therapy. 11. A sentinel lymph node must be identified that contains metastatic breast cancer as documented by frozen section, touch prep, or H\&E staining on permanent section. * NOTE: Patients with metastatic breast cancer identified by immunohistochemistry (IHC) are not eligible. 12. Patient randomized to ALND must undergo ALND within 42 days of their SLND. 13. A patient with a history of a previous malignancy is eligible for this study as long as the patient meets the following criteria for a cancer survivor. A cancer survivor is eligible provided that the following criteria are met: 1. The patient has undergone potentially curative therapy for all prior malignancies, 2. There has been no evidence of any prior malignancies for at least five years with no evidence of recurrence (except for effectively treated basal cell or squamous carcinoma of the skin, carcinoma in -situ of the cervix that has been effectively treated by surgery alone, or lobular carcinoma in-situ of the ipsilateral or contralateral breast treated by surgery alone), and 3. The patient is deemed by their treating physician to be at low risk for recurrence from prior malignancies. 14. Patient or the patient's legally acceptable representative must provide a signed and dated written informed consent prior to registration and any study-related procedures. 15. Patient must provide written authorization to allow the use and disclosure of their protected health information. NOTE: This may be obtained in either the study-specific informed consent or in a separate authorization form and must be obtained from the patient prior to study registration. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Patient is lactating (breastfeeding). 2. Patient has been previously treated with chemotherapy, estrogen receptor antagonists (i.e., Tamoxifen) or selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs, i.e., Raloxifene) for this invasive breast cancer. 3. Patient has a previously placed pre-pectoral breast implant. NOTE: A subpectoral implant is allowed. 4. Patient has concurrent invasive bilateral breast malignancies. 5. Patient has clinically and radiologically identified multi-centric disease that is not amenable to a single lumpectomy. 6. Patient has had previous ipsilateral axillary surgery such as excisional biopsy of lymph node(s), treatment of hidradenitis. 7. Patient has a medical contraindication to ALND or is considered a poor surgical risk due to a non-malignant systemic disease (cardiovascular, renal, etc.) that would preclude the treatment options. 8. Patient who is noted to have matted nodes or gross extranodal disease at the time of SLND. 9. Patient has three or more positive sentinel nodes by frozen section, touch prep, or H\&E staining on permanent section.
healthy Volunteers
false
minimum Age
18 Years
sex
FEMALE
std Ages
  1. ADULT
  2. OLDER_ADULT
Treatment arms and interventions
arm Groups
  1. description
    Patients undergo axillary lymph node dissection involving removal of at least level I and II nodes, followed by whole-breast radiotherapy (exclusive of a third supraclavicular field) 5 days a week for a maximum of 7 weeks. Patients may receive adjuvant systemic therapy at the discretion of the treating physician. Patients are followed up at 30 days, at 6, 12, 18, 30, and 36 months, and then annually for a total of 10 years.
    intervention Names
    1. Procedure: axillary lymph node dissection
    2. Radiation: whole breast irradiation
    label
    Surgery + radiotherapy
    type
    EXPERIMENTAL
  2. description
    Patients undergo breast radiotherapy only. Patients may receive adjuvant systemic therapy at the discretion of the treating physician. Patients are followed up at 30 days, at 6, 12, 18, 30, and 36 months, and then annually for a total of 10 years.
    intervention Names
    1. Radiation: whole breast irradiation
    label
    Radiotherapy
    type
    ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
interventions
  1. arm Group Labels
    1. Surgery + radiotherapy
    name
    axillary lymph node dissection
    type
    PROCEDURE
  2. arm Group Labels
    1. Radiotherapy
    2. Surgery + radiotherapy
    name
    whole breast irradiation
    type
    RADIATION
Study design
allocation
RANDOMIZED
intervention Model
PARALLEL
masking Info
masking
NONE
primary Purpose
TREATMENT
Enrollment
count
605
type
ACTUAL
Registered outcome plans (not posted results)
primary Outcomes
  1. measure
    Overall survival
    time Frame
    Up to 10 years
  2. measure
    Morbidity
    time Frame
    Up to 10 years
  3. measure
    Disease-free survival
    time Frame
    Up to 10 years
Full study description
brief Summary
RATIONALE: Surgery to remove lymph nodes in the armpit may remove cancer cells that have spread from tumors in the breast. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to determine the effectiveness of removing lymph nodes in the armpit in treating women who have stage I or stage IIA breast cancer.
detailed Description
OBJECTIVES: Primary objectives: Long term: To assess whether overall survival for patients randomized to Arm 2 (no immediate ALND) is essentially equivalent to (or better than) than that for patients assigned to Arm 1 (completion ALND). Short term: To quantify and compare the surgical morbidities associated with SLND plus ALND versus SLND alone. OUTLINE: This is a randomized study. After segmental mastectomy and sentinel lymph node dissection, patients are stratified according to age (50 and under vs over 50), estrogen receptor status (positive vs negative), and tumor size (no greater than 1 cm vs greater than 1 cm but no greater than 2 cm vs greater than 2 cm). Patients are randomized to one of two treatment arms.
Source references
references
  1. citation
    Ainsworth RK, Kollias J, Le Blanc A, De Silva P. The clinical impact of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z-0011 trial--results from the BreastSurgANZ National Breast Cancer Audit. Breast. 2013 Oct;22(5):733-5. doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2012.11.005. Epub 2013 Jan 2.
    pmid
    23290275
    type
    BACKGROUND
  2. citation
    Gainer SM, Hunt KK, Beitsch P, Caudle AS, Mittendorf EA, Lucci A. Changing behavior in clinical practice in response to the ACOSOG Z0011 trial: a survey of the American Society of Breast Surgeons. Ann Surg Oncol. 2012 Oct;19(10):3152-8. doi: 10.1245/s10434-012-2523-z. Epub 2012 Jul 21.
    pmid
    22820938
    type
    BACKGROUND
  3. citation
    Olson JA Jr, McCall LM, Beitsch P, Whitworth PW, Reintgen DS, Blumencranz PW, Leitch AM, Saha S, Hunt KK, Giuliano AE; American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Trials Z0010 and Z0011. Impact of immediate versus delayed axillary node dissection on surgical outcomes in breast cancer patients with positive sentinel nodes: results from American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Trials Z0010 and Z0011. J Clin Oncol. 2008 Jul 20;26(21):3530-5. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2007.15.5630.
    pmid
    18640934
    type
    BACKGROUND
  4. citation
    Leitch AM, McCall L, Beitsch P, et al.: Factors influencing accrual to ACOSOG Z0011, a randomized phase III trial of axillary dissection vs. observation for sentinel node positive breast cancer. [Abstract] J Clin Oncol 24 (Suppl 18): A-601, 2006.
    type
    BACKGROUND
  5. citation
    Krishnan MS, Recht A, Bellon JR, Punglia RS. Trade-offs associated with axillary lymph node dissection with breast irradiation versus breast irradiation alone in patients with a positive sentinel node in relation to the risk of non-sentinel node involvement: implications of ACOSOG Z0011. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2013 Feb;138(1):205-13. doi: 10.1007/s10549-013-2418-0. Epub 2013 Jan 22.
    pmid
    23338762
    type
    RESULT
  6. citation
    Shah-Khan M, Boughey JC. Evolution of axillary nodal staging in breast cancer: clinical implications of the ACOSOG Z0011 trial. Cancer Control. 2012 Oct;19(4):267-76. doi: 10.1177/107327481201900403.
    pmid
    23037494
    type
    RESULT
  7. citation
    Caudle AS, Hunt KK, Kuerer HM, Meric-Bernstam F, Lucci A, Bedrosian I, Babiera GV, Hwang RF, Ross MI, Feig BW, Hoffman K, Litton JK, Sahin AA, Yang W, Hortobagyi GN, Buchholz TA, Mittendorf EA. Multidisciplinary considerations in the implementation of the findings from the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Z0011 study: a practice-changing trial. Ann Surg Oncol. 2011 Sep;18(9):2407-12. doi: 10.1245/s10434-011-1593-7. No abstract available.
    pmid
    21327455
    type
    RESULT
  8. citation
    Giuliano AE, Hunt KK, Ballman KV, Beitsch PD, Whitworth PW, Blumencranz PW, Leitch AM, Saha S, McCall LM, Morrow M. Axillary dissection vs no axillary dissection in women with invasive breast cancer and sentinel node metastasis: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2011 Feb 9;305(6):569-75. doi: 10.1001/jama.2011.90.
    pmid
    21304082
    type
    RESULT
  9. citation
    Giuliano AE, McCall L, Beitsch P, Whitworth PW, Blumencranz P, Leitch AM, Saha S, Hunt KK, Morrow M, Ballman K. Locoregional recurrence after sentinel lymph node dissection with or without axillary dissection in patients with sentinel lymph node metastases: the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z0011 randomized trial. Ann Surg. 2010 Sep;252(3):426-32; discussion 432-3. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0b013e3181f08f32.
    pmid
    20739842
    type
    RESULT
  10. citation
    Lucci A, McCall LM, Beitsch PD, Whitworth PW, Reintgen DS, Blumencranz PW, Leitch AM, Saha S, Hunt KK, Giuliano AE; American College of Surgeons Oncology Group. Surgical complications associated with sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND) plus axillary lymph node dissection compared with SLND alone in the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Trial Z0011. J Clin Oncol. 2007 Aug 20;25(24):3657-63. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2006.07.4062. Epub 2007 May 7.
    pmid
    17485711
    type
    RESULT
  11. citation
    Giuliano AE, Ballman KV, McCall L, Beitsch PD, Brennan MB, Kelemen PR, Ollila DW, Hansen NM, Whitworth PW, Blumencranz PW, Leitch AM, Saha S, Hunt KK, Morrow M. Effect of Axillary Dissection vs No Axillary Dissection on 10-Year Overall Survival Among Women With Invasive Breast Cancer and Sentinel Node Metastasis: The ACOSOG Z0011 (Alliance) Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2017 Sep 12;318(10):918-926. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.11470.
    pmid
    28898379
    type
    DERIVED
see Also Links
  1. label
    Data Available: Select individual patient-level data from this trial can be requested from the NCTN/NCORP Data Archive
Source notices and limitations
    Discovery and provenance
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        mited SLN-positive breast cancer):</p> <div class="pdq-content-list"><ol id="_2600"><li><a href="/clinicaltrials/NCT00003855">ACOSOG Z0011</a> (Alliance, NCT00003855), a phase III, noninferiority, multicenter, randomized clinical trial, evaluated whether ALND is required after a positive SLN biopsy. Women were randomly ass
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      source title
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      source update dates
      1. context
        Updated: April 25, 2025
        datetime
        2025-04-25T12:00:00Z
        display
        April 25, 2025

    Preserved source evidence · Not medical advice