Armor Study

ARMOR is enrolling patients with lymph node-positive breast cancer from twelve centres across Canada. The goal of the study is to better understand arm symptoms and other quality of life impacts following lymph node surgery. The lymph node surgery and other treatments that you have will be chosen by your doctors and will not be influenced by your participation in this study.

ARMOR is led by Dr. Alison Laws, a breast surgeon based at the University of Calgary. The study will be centrally managed by a team at the University of Calgary, along with researchers and their teams at each participating centre.

What will I be asked to do?

Complete a series of surveys before surgery and then at 1 month, 1 year and 2 years following surgery.

Surveys will be sent and completed electronically
Surveys will take approximately 15 minutes to complete
Surveys will ask questions about how your arm feels, how your breast feels, your emotional health and your ability to do different activities
You will provide answers on a scale that reflects how often you are experiencing a symptom or how much you agree with a statement (e.g. “Not at all”, “A little”, “Quite a bit”, “Very much”)
Any questions that you are not comfortable answering can be skipped

Provide consent for the ARMOR study staff to access your medical chart to collect relevant information related to diagnosis and treatment.

Why is this study important?

Results from this study will help us better take care of lymph node-positive breast cancer patients in the future by:

Providing more accurate information before surgery about expected side effects
Better monitoring and early intervention for potential side effects
Choosing surgical treatments that have less side effects, when they can still provide good control of the cancer

There will be no direct benefits to your care by participating in this study, but you will be helping patients in the future by contributing to this work.

Study Eligibility

1. Have a breast cancer diagnosis with the following characteristics:

Tumour is not growing through the skin or muscle (i.e. clinical T-stage 1-3)
Lymph nodes in the armpit containing breast cancer cells
Hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative

2. Having surgery as the initial treatment, including axillary lymph node surgery.

Study Background

Arm Morbidity following Axillary Surgery for Node-Positive Breast Cancer (ARMOR study)

About 15% of patients with breast cancer present with spread to the lymph nodes that can be felt or seen on imaging, and an additional 15-30% will be found to have microscopic spread to the lymph nodes at time of surgery. There are multiple different lymph node surgeries that may be used, including:

Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB): mapping of the lymphatic system using dye and removal of the first draining lymph nodes indicated by the dye. Removes 2 nodes on average.
Tailored axillary surgery (TAS): removal of lymph nodes that are abnormal by feel or by imaging, along with mapping of the lymphatic system using dye and removal of the first draining lymph nodes indicated by the dye. Removes 3-8 nodes on average.
Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND): removal of all lymph nodes within the borders of the armpit. Removes 17 lymph nodes on average.

We have some knowledge about the side effects of lymph node surgery from older studies. However, these surgical techniques and other components of breast cancer treatment have evolved a lot over time, creating a need to better understand symptoms for patients treated in modern times.

Welcome to The ARMOR Study

What will I be asked to do?

Why is this study important?

Study Eligibility

Study Background

Contact Us

For further information please email us at: armor@ucalgary.ca

Welcome to The ARMOR Study

What will I be asked to do?

Why is this study important?

Study Eligibility

Study Background

Contact Us

For further information please email us at: armor@ucalgary.ca

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