Surgery in the Older Patient with Breast Cancer

Breast surgical oncology in elderly and unfit patients: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Breast cancer treatment in elderly women remains a complex issue due to pre-existing comorbidities, therapy-related toxicities, and the lack of evidence-based data in this population, leading to both overtreatment and undertreatment.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

The aim was to investigate the literature on breast surgical oncology in the older woman as a major therapeutic challenge: the 86 more consistent articles amongst 1440 potential citations according to PRISMA guidelines were retained.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

Studies demonstrated that despite low-grade tumor types, lower incidence of axillary lymph node involvement, ER+ disease, and less aggressive tumor biology, elderly breast cancer patients often receive less than the standard-of-care when compared to their younger counterparts. The surgery omission in elderlies and the preference for the primary endocrine treatment is associated with worse survival, especially in patients aged 80 years or over - a cohort with no specific recommendations concerning breast and axillary surgical procedures. On the other hand, a higher mastectomy rate is still considered the standard treatment in older women with higher T2:T1 tumor ratio and greater difficulties to attend radiotherapy due to severe comorbidities. Surgical de-escalation procedures even in an-ambulatory setting are recognized as a feasible option in these patients to prevent or palliate breast or chest wall symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Benefits and disadvantages from surgery only or coupled with adjuvant therapies for elderly women were analyzed in literature, outlining a growing need for a proper geriatric assessment and short-stay surgical programs which are feasible today owing to the availability of less invasive approaches.

Comparison of Curative Complications between Mammotome-Assisted Minimally Invasive Resection and Conventional Open Resection for Breast Neoplasm: A Retrospective Clinical Study

Background

To know the clinical value of mammotome-assisted minimally invasive resection (MAMIR) in the treatment of patients with breast neoplasm, we performed a retrospective clinical study for the patients treated with the MAMIR and conventional open resection (COR).

Methods

Postoperative complications were compared between 40 patients treated with the MAMIR and 40 patients treated with the COR. The postoperative complications mainly included intraoperative blood loss, hospitalization days, operative time, surgical scar, and incidence of postoperative complications.

Results

We found that the amount of intraoperative blood loss, hospitalization days, operative time, surgical scar, and incidence of postoperative complications in the MAMIR group were significantly lower than those of patients in the COR group.

Conclusion

Our results indicated that patients with breast neoplasm treated with the MAMIR had better outcomes, which reinforced the advantage of this approach.