Scholars@Duke
Hannah E Woriax

Hannah E Woriax

Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery
Surgical Oncology

Scholarly Works - Journal articles

ASO Education and Training: Taking the Next Step in Surgical Oncology Health Disparities Research: Identifying Root Causes and Targets for Actionable Change.

Journal article Ann Surg Oncol · June 2026 The Society of Surgical Oncology and its membership are committed to reducing and eliminating cancer disparities. Over the past several decades, plentiful research has identified marginalized populations who are at an elevated risk of developing cancer, ar ... Full text Link to item Cite

Breast cancer staging for patients with "low-risk" disease: Are they all the same?

Journal article Cancer · February 15, 2026 BACKGROUND: Contemporary breast cancer staging incorporates anatomic and biologic factors. Although a low (<11) Oncotype Recurrence Score (RS) is linked to favorable survival, it is unclear if RS alone justifies downstaging to pathologic prognostic stage ( ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hidden in the Data: Breast Cancer Patterns, Gaps, and Challenges for Native American Women.

Journal article Curr Breast Cancer Rep · 2026 PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of breast cancer screening, clinical characteristics, treatment, and survivorship in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) women. RECENT FINDINGS: Breast cancer in AI/AN women is a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Survival outcomes after pathologic complete response with neoadjuvant endocrine therapy vs. neoadjuvant chemotherapy: a retrospective national database study.

Journal article Breast Cancer Res Treat · July 2025 BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant therapies can result in pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients with breast cancer, which can be predictive of long-term outcomes. Patients with estrogen receptor positive (ER +) tumors may receive either neoadjuvant chemothe ... Full text Link to item Cite

ERBB2-Low Expression by Race and Ethnicity Among Patients With Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Journal article JAMA Netw Open · June 2, 2025 IMPORTANCE: Racial and ethnic disparities in pathologic complete response (pCR) and overall survival (OS) have been reported in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). In addition to socioeconomic factors and access to care, differences in tumo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparison of survival outcomes for patients with Stage III vs de novo Stage IV breast cancer.

Journal article Cancer · May 15, 2025 PURPOSE: Improvements in systemic therapy have resulted in significant heterogeneity in survival outcomes for metastatic breast cancer patients. As such, recently proposed staging guidelines for de novo metastatic breast cancer stratify patients into four ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Association of Care Fragmentation on Overall Survival for Early Stage Breast Cancer.

Journal article J Surg Res · February 2025 INTRODUCTION: Optimal treatment of stage I-III breast cancer requires multimodal therapies. Patients can receive these therapies at one or multiple facilities. Herein, we evaluated the association of receiving treatment at more than one facility and distan ... Full text Link to item Cite

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in Older Patients: Does SLNB Guide Therapy?

Journal article Ann Surg Oncol · December 2024 BACKGROUND: Older breast cancer patients represent a heterogeneous population. Studies demonstrate that sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) omission may be appropriate in some clinical scenarios, yet patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are oft ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessment of Treatment Sequence in Patients With Stage III Breast Cancer.

Journal article J Surg Res · October 2024 INTRODUCTION: Stage III breast cancer is defined as locally advanced breast cancer and is treated with curative intent. Historically, overall survival (OS) did not differ based on treatment sequence (neoadjuvant chemotherapy [NAC] followed by surgery versu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Axillary nodal disease burden is not associated with an elevated 21-gene recurrence score in post-menopausal women presenting with a clinically negative axilla.

Journal article Am J Surg · July 2024 BACKGROUND: The predictive and prognostic value of the recurrence score (RS) has emphasized the importance of tumor biology and has reduced the prognostic implications of limited nodal burden in post-menopausal women with HR+/HER2-invasive breast cancer (I ... Full text Link to item Cite

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pathologic Complete Response and Overall Survival in Patients With Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treated With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.

Journal article J Clin Oncol · May 10, 2024 PURPOSE: Black women have higher rates of death from triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) than White women. We hypothesized that pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and overall survival (OS) may vary by race/ethnicity in pa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Anatomy Versus Biology: What Guides Chemotherapy Decisions in Older Patients With Breast Cancer?

Journal article J Surg Res · April 2024 INTRODUCTION: With the increasing utilization of genomic assays, such as the Oncotype DX recurrence score (RS), the relevance of anatomic staging has been questioned for select older patients with breast cancer. We sought to evaluate differences in chemoth ... Full text Link to item Cite

Changes in Surgical Management of the Axilla Over 11 Years - Report on More Than 1500 Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy on the Prospective I-SPY2 Trial.

Journal article Ann Surg Oncol · October 2023 BACKGROUND: Axillary surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is becoming less extensive. We evaluated the evolution of axillary surgery after NAC on the multi-institutional I-SPY2 prospective trial. METHODS: We examined annual rates of sentinel lymph ... Full text Link to item Cite

Breast Conservation Surgery and Mastectomy Have Similar Locoregional Recurrence After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: Results From 1462 Patients on the Prospective, Randomized I-SPY2 Trial.

Journal article Ann Surg · September 1, 2023 Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) increases rates of successful breast-conserving surgery (BCS) in patients with breast cancer. However, some studies suggest that BCS after NAC may confer an increased risk of locoregional recurrence (LRR). We assessed LRR rat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Is the Face an Air Bag for the Brain and Torso?-The Potential Protective Effects of Severe Midface Fractures.

Journal article Am Surg · August 1, 2018 We investigated the patterns of injury associated with major midface trauma. Our hypothesis is that midface injuries are associated with a decrease in certain traumatic brain injuries as well as major torso injuries. The registry of our Level I trauma cent ... Link to item Cite