- Patient must have had pathologic confirmation of axillary nodal involvement at presentation (before neoadjuvant therapy) based on either a positive fine needle aspirate (FNA) (demonstrating malignant cells) or positive core needle biopsy (demonstrating invasive adenocarcinoma); the FNA or core needle biopsy can be performed either by palpation or by image guidance; documentation of axillary nodal positivity by sentinel node biopsy (before neoadjuvant therapy) is not permitted