A trial looking at CT scans before surgery for breast cancer (MISO BC)
Cancer type:
Status:
Phase:
This trial looked at whether CT scans of the armpit can show if breast cancer has spread into the 
or not.
The trial was open for people to join between 2011 and 2014. The team published the results in 2017.
More about this trial
Doctors usually treat breast cancer with surgery. During the operation they often take samples (biopsies) of the lymph nodes in the armpit. This is to find out whether the cancer has spread or not.
When this trial was done, it often took some time to get the results of the lymph node biopsies. Some people then needed another operation to remove the lymph nodes if the cancer had spread.
In this trial, some people had a CT scan of the lymph nodes in their armpit before surgery. If the scan showed their cancer had spread, the surgeon removed the lymph nodes during the operation.
The people taking part were put into 1 of 2 groups at random:
- half had a CT scan of the lymph nodes in their armpit before surgery
- half didn’t have a CT scan before surgery
The main aim of this trial was to find out if having a CT scan before surgery meant fewer people needed two operations.
Summary of results
As part of our editorial policy, any trial information we write is checked externally before we put it on our website. The research team have published some results for this trial. But we have been unable to find anyone involved with the trial to check the summary for us.
This means we are not able to include a plain English summary of the results on this page.
More information
There is more information about this trial in the link to the medical journal below.
Please note, the information we link to here is not in plain English. It has been written for healthcare professionals and researchers.
Multidetector CT improving surgical outcomes in breast cancer (MISO-BC): A randomised controlled trial
J Cox and others
The Breast, 2017. Volume 32, pages 217 – 224.
Recruitment start:
Recruitment end:
How to join a clinical trial
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Chief Investigator
Dr Julie Cox
Supported by
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Durham Clinical Trials Unit
NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme
NIHR Clinical Research Network: Cancer
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040
