Frequency of Occult Breast Cancer After Prophylactic Mastectomy Among High-Penetrance Breast Cancer Gene Positives (OBC-PM)

July 18, 2023 updated by: Mehwish Mooghal , MBBS, Aga Khan University Hospital, Pakistan

Frequency of Occult Breast Cancer After Prophylactic Mastectomy Among High-Penetrance Breast Cancer Gene Positives; Future Implications on Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in LMIC: A Single-center Cross-sectional Study

The role of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy(SLNB) among mutation-negative BC patients is well established; however, we are lacking data to assess the role of sentinel lymph node biopsy for patients who are undergoing surgery for prophylactic reasons without proven malignancy. Literature has reported a positive Occult Breast Cancer (OBC) rate of 0 to 11.3% among mastectomy specimens which are removed prophylactically. Majority of the time when the invasive focus is diagnosed in prophylactic mastectomy specimens they are found to be in-situ cases where axillary Staging using SLNB can be exempted; however, when the OBC is identified even in prophylactic mastectomy specimens, axilla should be addressed accordingly. Albeit SLNB has associated complications with it; postoperative pain, lymphedema, paresthesia and rare reaction to the injected dye. Therefore the question here arises regarding skipping SLNB among patients who are undergoing PRRMs without proven malignancy pre-operatively. However, before standardizing the practice in our population we need convincing evidence that the frequency of OBC is low among our patients. By identifying the true prevalence of OBC among our gene-positive HBC patients who are opting for PRRM, we would be able to skip SLNB; as not only it has psychological implications but also adds a financial burden on patients and families due to the addition of an extra procedure and hospital bills; as the financial and socioeconomic status of our population has already declined over last few years due to the economic crises faced worldwide, specifically after-affects are seen in Lower Middle-Income Country(LMIC) like Pakistan.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Recent studies have shown the rising incidence of Hereditary Breast Cancer (HBC) among Pakistani females, with growing numbers of Prophylactic Risk Reducing Mastectomies (PRRM) being offered to diagnosed cases of HBCs across different centres in the country.1 HBCs are seen in 5 to 10% of cases with Breast Cancers(BC). The main identified genes which contribute to the development of BCs among HBC patients are BRCA1, BRCA2, CDH1, PALB2, PTEN, TP53, ATM, BARD1, CHEK2, NF1, RAD51C/D and STK11. Among these culprit genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2 contribute to most HBC cases.

The role of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy(SLNB) among mutation-negative BC patients is well established; however, we are lacking data to assess the role of sentinel lymph node biopsy for patients who are undergoing surgery for prophylactic reasons without proven malignancy. Literature has reported a positive Occult Breast Cancer (OBC) rate of 0 to 11.3% among mastectomy specimens which are removed prophylactically. Majority of the time when the invasive focus is diagnosed in prophylactic mastectomy specimens they are found to be in-situ cases where axillary Staging using SLNB can be exempted; however, when the OBC is identified even in prophylactic mastectomy specimens, axilla should be addressed accordingly. Albeit SLNB has associated complications with it; postoperative pain, lymphedema, paresthesia and rare reaction to the injected dye. Therefore the question here arises regarding skipping SLNB among patients who are undergoing PRRMs without proven malignancy pre-operatively. However, before standardizing the practice in our population we need convincing evidence that the frequency of OBC is low among our patients. By identifying the true prevalence of OBC among our gene-positive HBC patients who are opting for PRRM, we would be able to skip SLNB; as not only it has psychological implications but also adds a financial burden on patients and families due to the addition of an extra procedure and hospital bills; as the financial and socioeconomic status of our population has already declined over last few years due to the economic crises faced worldwide, specifically after-affects are seen in Lower Middle-Income Country(LMIC) like Pakistan.

Due to the inflated cost and added procedure of SLNB in PRRM cases, our primary aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency of OBC among patients who underwent PRRMs concerning their high penetrance BC gene positivity; with the goal that SLNB can be safely omitted for PRRMs or not. Our secondary goal is to correlate the radiological findings with final histopathological results among OBC-positive patients, also the histopathological pattern of HBC genes among our cohort.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

26

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Sindh
      • Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, 74000
        • Aga Khan University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

All individuals who came out as genetic test positive for high-risk breast cancer genes; carriers/breast cancer patients and who opted for prophylactic risk-reducing mastectomy.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • individuals with positive genetic test results for High-Penetrance Hereditary BC genes, and those who had PRRMs at our center

Exclusion Criteria:

  • individuals who did not give consent and those who had already diagnosed bilateral BCs

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Prophylactic risk reducing mastectomy

Patients who underwent genetic testing and came out positive for BRCA and other genes of breast cancer; afterwards opted for prophylactic risk-reducing mastectomy.

After mastectomy, the specimens will be assessed for the presence of occult breast cancers in removed specimens. Histopathology is set as gold standard for occult breast cancer confirmation.

After mastectomy, each specimen will be assessed histopathologically for the presence or absence of invasive focus of breast cancer.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Occult breast cancer frequency
Time Frame: cross-sectional study. 2 months required for data collection from hospital records.
frequency of identification of occult breast cancers among our cohort when prophylactic risk reducing mastectomy is done in mutation carriers.
cross-sectional study. 2 months required for data collection from hospital records.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 30, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

March 30, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 6, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 15, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

March 16, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 19, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 18, 2023

Last Verified

July 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

If the data is to be shared, it will be shared in the form of an excel sheet without any patient identification.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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