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OPTimizing Irradiation Through Molecular Assessment of Lymph Node (OPTIMAL)

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Breast Cancer
Interventions
Radiation: Irradiation
Registration Number
NCT02335957
Lead Sponsor
Grupo de Investigación Clínica en Oncología Radioterapia
Brief Summary

The main purpose of this study is to show the non-inferiority of the incidental irradiation, as compared to intentional irradiation of the axillary nodes, in terms of 5-years disease-free survival (DFS) of early stage breast cancer patients with limited affectation of sentinel node assessed by OSNA (250 to 15,000 copies/uL), treated with breast-conservative surgery without axillary lymphadenectomy.

Detailed Description

Since long, the standard loco-regional treatment of the early-stage breast cancer is breast conservative surgery (tumorectomy) followed by a selective biopsy of the sentinel lymph node and, if positive, lymphadenectomy of axillary levels I and II. Complementary irradiation of the breast and ganglionar areas has shown to reduce disease-specific mortality. Therefore, adjuvant radiotherapy of the whole breast is currently indicated after conservative surgery.

The recommendation to irradiate axillary lymph nodes is clear in patients with more than three affected nodes. The standard volumes to irradiate after lymphadenectomy include supraclavicular and level III axillary regions, while axillary levels I and II, and the internal breast lymph node chain, are reserved for cases of cumbersome axillary affectation, patients who have not undergone lymphadenectomy or it was insufficient, or affectation of the internal breast lymph node chain.

However, when only 1 to 3 nodes are affected, there is no unanimity on the recommendation of radiotherapy, despite some studies have shown that irradiation improves survival. In addition, the National Cancer Institute of Canada trial (NCIC-CTGMA20), high risk patients with negative lymph nodes and patients with positive lymph nodes (most of them with 1 to 3 affected nodes) showed that local irradiation with or without regional lymph node irradiation improved disease-free survival, as well as loco-regional and distant disease control. Moreover, a systematic review including more than 20,000 patients from 45 studies concludes that the irradiation of the breast reduced the loco-regional relapse, even in patients without affected lymph nodes.

One Step Nucleic Acid Amplification (OSNA) is a technique developed by Sysmex Corporation that allows a readily and complete analysis of sentinel lymph nodes during surgery. OSNA provides a quantification of the Cytokeratin 19 (CK19) tumour cell marker in the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) of the sentinel node, the result being expressed as "total tumour load" (TTL), which is a discrete number of copies per microliter. This technique has shown ability to discriminate macrometastasis, micrometastasis or negativity, and to predict affectation of non-sentinel lymph nodes. According to previous results, a TTL \< 15,000 is associated with a 85% probability of non-affectation of (non-sentinel) axillar lymph nodes.

The therapeutic value of the axillary lymphadenectomy has been questioned since long, and the recent publication of the Z0011 study proposes solely a selective biopsy of the sentinel lymph node. This has impacted clinical practice guidelines as prestigious as those of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network; however, irradiation is always considered in these cases.

In summary, the amount of nodal volumes to irradiate in early stages of breast cancer is under discussion, particularly in the case of patients not submitted to axillar lymphadenectomy despite affectation of sentinel lymph nodes. In most cases, the irradiation of the breast implies "incidental" irradiation of the axillary level I, and in some cases the level II. For this reason, some groups have decided not to irradiate these axillary regions intentionally, while others advocate irradiating these regions intentionally.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
Female
Target Recruitment
489
Inclusion Criteria
  1. Infiltrating, ductal carcinoma of the breast.
  2. Treated with conservative surgery (tumorectomy or quadrantectomy) without lymphadenectomy.
  3. Sentinel lymph node assessed by OSNA, with TTL in the range 250 - 15,000 copies/μL.
  4. Age ≥ 18 yrs old.
  5. Karnofsky Index ≥ 70 %.
  6. Signed Informed Consent.
Exclusion Criteria
  1. Other types of breast cancer different from infiltrating ductal carcinoma.
  2. Bilateral breast cancer.
  3. Males.
  4. Mastectomy or axillary homolateral lymph node dissection.
  5. Previous thoracic irradiation therapy.
  6. Systemic neoadjuvant therapy previous to surgery.
  7. Contraindications of radiotherapy (pregnancy, severe collagen diseases).
  8. Other neoplasms.
  9. Severe associated comorbidities that, according to the investigator criteria, may interfere with the study evaluations.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Intentional irradiation of lymph nodesIrradiationPatients will receive a total dose of 50 Gy in the whole breast and nodal areas(axillary I, II, III, and supraclavicular) with optimization of the technique, in daily fractions of 2 Gy and 5 fractions/week during 5 weeks.
Incidental irradiation of lymph nodesIrradiationPatients will receive a total dose of 50 Gy in the whole breast, but not aimed at nodal areas, with optimization of the technique, in daily fractions of 2 Gy and 5 fractions/week during 5 weeks.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Disease Free Survival5 years

The primary outcome will be the 5-years DFS. DFS is defined as the time from randomization to any breast cancer-related event, including local, regional or distant recurrence, or death from breast cancer.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Time to distant recurrence up 5-years5 years

Distant recurrence occuring during the 5-years follow-up, defined as defined as clinical or image-based detection of neoplastic affectation of other organs or tissues different from the treated breast, ipsilateral axilla or supraclavicular fossa.

Time to loco-regional recurrence up 5-years5 years

Loco-regional recurrence during the 5-years follow-up, defined as clinical or image-based detection of tumour in treated breast (local recurrence) or in the ipsilateral axilla or supraclavicular fossa (regional recurrence).

Number of patients with acute toxicity, defined as any adverse event appearing up to one month after finalization of radiotherapy.7 years

Acute toxicity, assessed by a selected subset of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.0 (CTCAE)

Number of patients with chronic toxicity, defined as any adverse event appearing during follow-up, up to 5 years.7 years

Chronic toxicity , assessed by a selected subset of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.0 (CTCAE)

Total irradiation dose (Gy) received in axillary levels I, II and III, supraclavicular fossa, and internal mammary chain volumes, at the end of radiotherapy.2 years

Total dose (Gy) received in axillary levels I, II,and II, supraclavicular, and internal mammary chain volumes.

Trial Locations

Locations (50)

Hospital Distrital de Santarém

🇵🇹

Santarém, Portugal

Clínica Platon

🇪🇸

Barcelona, Spain

Hospital de Perugia

🇮🇹

Perugia, Italy

Centro Hospitalar De São João

🇵🇹

Porto, Portugal

Hospital Espírito Santo

🇵🇹

Évora, Portugal

Fundación Hospital de Jove

🇪🇸

Gijón, Asturias, Spain

Hospital de Cruces

🇪🇸

Barakaldo, Bilbao, Spain

Hospital Universitario de Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín

🇪🇸

Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canarias, Spain

Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Fuenlabrada

🇪🇸

Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain

Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro

🇪🇸

Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain

Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra

🇪🇸

Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

Centro Onoclógico de Galicia

🇪🇸

A Coruña, Spain

Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Albacete

🇪🇸

Albacete, Spain

Hospital Universitario de la Ribera

🇪🇸

Alzira, Spain

Centro Médico Teknon

🇪🇸

Barcelona, Spain

Hospital del Mar

🇪🇸

Barcelona, Spain

ICO Duran i Reynals

🇪🇸

Barcelona, Spain

Hospital Universitario Puerta del Mar

🇪🇸

Cadiz, Spain

Hospital Universitario de Burgos

🇪🇸

Burgos, Spain

Hospital Provincial de Castellón

🇪🇸

Castelló, Spain

Hospital General Universitario de Ciudad Real

🇪🇸

Ciudad Real, Spain

Hospital de Donostia

🇪🇸

Donostia, Spain

Hospital Universitari Arnau de Vilanova

🇪🇸

Lerida, Spain

Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves

🇪🇸

Granada, Spain

Hospital Universitario de León

🇪🇸

León, Spain

Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz

🇪🇸

Madrid, Spain

Hospital Clínico Universitario de San Carlos

🇪🇸

Madrid, Spain

Hospital Ramon y Cajal

🇪🇸

Madrid, Spain

Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre

🇪🇸

Madrid, Spain

Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón

🇪🇸

Madrid, Spain

Hospital General Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca

🇪🇸

Murcia, Spain

Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus

🇪🇸

Reus, Spain

Hospital Universitario de Salamanca

🇪🇸

Salamanca, Spain

Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago

🇪🇸

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Hospital Clinico Universitario de Valencia

🇪🇸

Valencia, Spain

Hospital Virgen del Rocío

🇪🇸

Sevilla, Spain

Hospital General Universitario de Valencia

🇪🇸

Valencia, Spain

Hospital Universitari i Politecnic la Fe

🇪🇸

Valencia, Spain

Instituto Valenciano de Oncología (IVO)

🇪🇸

Valencia, Spain

Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid

🇪🇸

Valladolid, Spain

Hospital Universitario de Araba

🇪🇸

Vitoria, Spain

Hospital Virgen de la Concha

🇪🇸

Zamora, Spain

Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa

🇪🇸

Zaragoza, Spain

Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet

🇪🇸

Zaragoza, Spain

Hospital Universitario Infanta Cristina

🇪🇸

Badajoz, Spain

Hospital Clínic de Barcelona

🇪🇸

Barcelona, Spain

Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Vigo

🇪🇸

Vigo, Spain

Hospital Virgen de la Macarena

🇪🇸

Sevilla, Spain

Hospital Universitario la Paz

🇪🇸

Madrid, Spain

Hospital General Universitario de Santa Lucía

🇪🇸

Cartagena, Murcia, Spain

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