Assessing nodal positivity in men 70 years of age and older with clinically node negative hormone-receptor positive breast cancer to guide axillary intervention

Choosing Wisely Guidelines recommend against routine sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for early-stage, HR+ clinically node-negative breast cancer in elderly women. To determine the applicability of this guideline to men, researchers evaluated pathologic nodal positivity between men and women with low-risk HR+ clinically node-negative breast cancer. Results showed that men aged 70 and older with low-risk clinically node-negative breast cancer had nearly double the rate of nodal positivity compared with women, suggesting that SLNB omission should be considered on an individualized basis.