Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38071708›Full record

ArticleAnnals of surgical oncology2024

Long-Term Patient-Reported Arm Symptoms in Breast Cancer Survivors.

Alison Laws, Mirelle Lagendijk, Samantha Grossmith, Melissa Hughes, Nancy U Lin, Elizabeth A Mittendorf, A Heather Eliassen, Tari A King, Laura S Dominici

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Article in Annals of surgical oncology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
2.5field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Arm morbidity and financial difficulty in breast cancer survivors.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Exploring the influence and identifying key predictors of sleep difficulties on health status in long-term breast cancer survivors: a cross-sectional study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Real-World Implications of the SOUND Trial.Annals of surgical oncology · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Alison LawsDivision of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Mirelle LagendijkDepartment of Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Samantha GrossmithDivision of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Melissa HughesBreast Oncology Program, Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Nancy U LinBreast Oncology Program, Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Elizabeth A MittendorfDivision of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
A Heather EliassenChanning Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Tari A KingDivision of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Laura S DominiciDivision of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. ldominici@bwh.harvard.edu.
Brigham and Women's Hospital · USDana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center · USErasmus MC · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUnderstanding long-term arm symptoms in breast cancer survivors is critical given excellent survival in the modern era.

methodsThis cross-sectional study included patients treated for stage 0-III breast cancer at our institution from 2002 to 2012. Patient-reported arm symptoms were collected from the EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaire. We used linear regression to evaluate adjusted associations between locoregional treatments and the continuous Arm Symptom (AS) score (0-100; higher score reflects more symptoms).

resultsA total of 1126 patients expressed interest in participating and 882 (78.3%) completed the questionnaire. Mean time since surgery was 10.5 years. There was a broad distribution of locoregional treatments, including axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in 37.1% of patients, mastectomy with reconstruction in 36.5% of patients, and post-mastectomy radiation in 38.2% of patients. Overall, 64.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 61.1-67.4%) of patients reported no arm symptoms, 17.0% (95% CI 14.7-19.6%) had one mild symptom, 9.4% (95% CI 7.7-11.5%) had two or more mild symptoms, and 9.3% (95% CI 7.6-11.4%) reported one or more severe symptoms. Adjusted AS scores were significantly higher with ALND versus sentinel node biopsy (β 3.5, p = 0.01), and with autologous reconstruction versus all other breast/reconstructive surgery types (β 4.5-5.5, all p < 0.05). There was a significant interaction between axillary and breast/reconstructive surgery, with the greatest effect of ALND in those with mastectomy with implant (β 9.7) or autologous (β 5.7) reconstruction.

conclusionsOne in three patients reported arm symptoms at a mean of 10 years from treatment for breast cancer, although rates of severe symptoms were low (<10%). Attention is warranted to the arm morbidity related to both axillary and breast surgery during treatment counseling and survivorship.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsCancer SurvivorsLymphedemaArmAxillaCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansLymph Node ExcisionMastectomyPatient Reported Outcome MeasuresSentinel Lymph Node BiopsyArm symptomsBreast cancerEORTC QLQ BR23LymphedemaPainPatient-reported outcomesSurvivorship

Identifiers

PMID38071708
OpenAlexW4389521340

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.