A trial comparing radiotherapy and surgery for women with breast cancer which has spread to their lymph nodes (AMAROS)

The research team found that there wasn’t much difference between radiotherapy and surgery for breast cancer that had spread to the lymph nodes.

This trial recruited 4,823 women from 9 different countries. They had all been diagnosed with breast cancer and were due to have surgery to remove their sentinel lymph node. They were put into 1 of 2 groups at random in case they needed more treatment after their sentinel node biopsy.

When the research team looked at the biopsy results, they found that 1,425 of these women (30%) had breast cancer that had spread to their lymph nodes.  These women needed to have more treatment to the rest of their lymph nodes, and

• 744 women had more surgery
• 681 women had radiotherapy

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The research team looked at how many women had cancer in their lymph nodes 5 years after treatment. It was a small number of women in both groups, with

• About 1 out of every 250 women (0.4%) who’d had surgery
• About 3 out of every 250 women (1.2%) who’d had radiotherapy

They found that the side effects were similar in both groups, but more women who had surgery developed a condition called lymphoedema. This is a when fluid builds up in the arm and causes it to swell up. When they looked at how many women had lymphoedema 5 years after treatment, they found it was

• 23% of women who had surgery
• 11% of women who had radiotherapy

The research team concluded that fewer women having radiotherapy had lymphoedema, but that either treatment could be used for women who have breast cancer that has spread to their lymph nodes.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.