TABLE 1.
General Characteristics of All Studies Included in Qualitative Analysis Sorted by Type of Procedure
| First Author | Year of Publication | Study Type | Index Test | Reference Test | Sample Size* | cN-Stage | ycN-Stage | Definition ax-pCR | IHC |
| Alvarado | 2012 | R, S | SLNB | ALND | 121 | N1-N3 | Any | NR | NR |
| Boileau | 2015 | P, M | SLNB | ALND | 127 | N1-2 | Any | ypN0/itc+ | Yes, if H&E negative |
| Boughey | 2013 | P, M | SLNB | ALND | 637 | N1-2 | Any | ypN0/itc+ | No |
| Brown | 2010 | R, S | SLNB | ALND | 86 | N1-3 | Any | ypN0/itc+ | No |
| Carrera | 2016 | P, M | SLNB | ALND | 48 | N1-2 | ycN0 (MRI +/- US) | NR | Yes, always |
| Enokido | 2016 | P, M | SLNB | ALND | 130 | N1 | ycN0 (imaging) | ypN0 | NR |
| Ge | 2014 | P, S | SLNB | ALND | 43 | N1-3 | Any | NR | Yes, but not routinely |
| Kang | 2011 | R, S | SLNB | ALND | 58 | N1-3 | Any | NR | Yes, always |
| Kuehn | 2013 | P, M | SLNB | ALND | 123 | N1-2 | ycN0 (PE +/-US) | ypN0/itc+ | No |
| Ozmen | 2010 | R, S | SLNB | ALND | 71 | N1-2 | ycN0 (PE and imaging) | ypN0 | Yes, if H&E negative |
| Park | 2013 | R, S | SLNB | ALND | 169 | N1-3 | Any | ypN0/itc+ | Yes, but not routinely |
| Pinero-Madrona | 2015 | P, M | SLNB | ALND | 38 | N1-3 | Any | NR | NR |
| Shen | 2007 | P, S | SLNB | ALND | 56 | N1-3 | Any | NR | No |
| Thomas | 2011 | P, S | SLNB | ALND | 26 | N+ | ycN0 (PE) | NR | Yes, always |
| Yagata | 2013 | P, S | SLNB | ALND | 81 | N1-3 | ycN0 (MRI; including rPR) | ypN0 | Yes, if H&E negative |
| Yu | 2016 | R, S | SLNB | ALND | 46 | N+ | ycN0 (PE) | ypN0/itc+/mi+ | Yes, always |
| Zetterlund | 2017 | P, M | SLNB | ALND | 152 | N1 | Any | ypN0 | Yes, but not routinely |
| Donker | 2015 | P, S | ML | ALND | 95 | N1-3 | Any | ypN0 | Yes, but not routinely |
| Caudle | 2016 | R, S | Combi | ALND | 85 | N1-3 | Any | ypN0 | Yes, but not routinely |
| Dashevsky | 2017 | R, S | Combi | NA | 21 | N1-2 | NR | ypN0/itc+ | No |
| Diego | 2016 | R, S | Combi | NA | 29 | N1 | ycN0 (PE) | ypN0 | Yes, but not routinely |
| Kim | 2017 | P, S | Combi | NA | 11 | N1-2 | Any | ypN0/itc+ | No |
| Nguyen | 2017 | R, S | Combi | NA | 20 | N1-3 | NR | NR | NR |
| Park | 2017 | P, S | Combi | NA | 20 | N1-3 | NR | ypN0/itc+ | Yes, but not routinely |
| Plecha | 2015 | R, S | Combi | NA | 19 | N1-3 | NR | NR | NR |
| Siso | 2017 | P, S | Combi | ALND | 35 | N1-3 | Any | ypN0 | Yes, always |
| Taback | 2018 | P, S | Combi | NA | 19 | N1-2 | NR | ypN0 | NR |
Combi indicates combination procedure; H&E, hematoxylin and eosin stain; IHC, immunohistochemistry; M, multicenter; NA, not applicable; NR, not reported; P, prospective; PE, psychical examination; R, retrospective; rPR, radiologic partial response; S, single-center.
*Number of patients in whom the less invasive axillary staging procedure was successful and in whom this procedure was followed by cALND (if applicable).