[News] European Breast Cancer Conference 2026

Preliminary results from the pilot phase of the ADARNAT trial, a phase 3 multicentre randomised study across 23 Spanish hospitals, suggest that axillary radiotherapy may safely replace axillary lymph node dissection in breast cancer patients with limited nodal disease after neoadjuvant therapy. The study enrolled 272 patients with breast cancer (cT1–T4b, cN0–cN1) who had 1–2 positive sentinel lymph nodes at surgery and were randomly assigned to receive either axillary radiotherapy or axillary lymphadenectomy. These findings, presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference 2026, support the growing trend toward surgical de-escalation in breast cancer management. If confirmed in the full trial, this approach could spare thousands of patients the morbidity associated with complete axillary surgery, including lymphedema and reduced arm mobility.