Are too many Australians with DCIS having sentinel node biopsy?
Surgical data suggest more than a third of women with the condition are having the procedure
Patterns of surgery for ductal carcinoma in situ have remained stable over a decade, but an increase in the use of sentinel node biopsy raises the spectre of overtreatment, researchers say.
During 2007-2016, more than a third of Australian and New Zealand women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) had sentinel node biopsy (SNB), according to figures from the BreastSurgANZ Quality Audit.
“An increase in SNB was observed over time: 27.5% of women had SNB in 2007 compared to 36.2% in 2016,” the study authors reported in the ANZ Journal of Surgery.
They drew on data for almost 18,000 surgeries for DCIS, of which 14,278 were Australian and accounted for more than 69% of all such surgeries performed in Australia during the period.
