To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2005.08.041 Byline: Heather Neuman (a), Lisa A. Carey (b), David W. Ollila (a), Chad Livasy (c), Benjamin F. Calvo (a), Anthony A. Meyer (a), Hong Jin Kim (a), Michael O. Meyers (a), E. Claire Dees (b), Fran A. Collichio (b), Carolyn I. Sartor (d), Dominic T. Moore (e)(f), Lynda R. Sawyer (f), Jill Frank (a), Nancy Klauber-DeMore (a) Keywords: Breast cancer; Axillary lymph node dissection; Lymph node retrieval; Locally advanced breast cancer Abstract: Retrieval of fewer than 10 lymph nodes at axillary dissection (ALND) for breast cancer can represent anatomic variation or inadequate dissection. We postulated that despite aggressive ALND, a lower lymph node count is more frequent after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (b) Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (c) Department of Pathology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (d) Department of Radiation Oncology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (e) Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (f) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC Article History: Received 23 March 2005; Revised 17 August 2005 Article Note: (footnote) Supported by the University of North Carolina Breast Cancer SPORE award from the National Cancer Institute (No. CA 58223). N.K.-D. is a recipient of the Kimmel Scholar Award and the American Society of Clinical Oncology/Breast Cancer Research Foundation Career Development Award. L.A.C. is the recipient of a National Institutes of Health CAP Award (No. M01RR00046). C.I.S. is the recipient of a National Institutes of Health K-08-CA083753.