The New Zealand medical journal
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Comparative Study
Pilot study comparing the accuracy of lymphoscintigraphy sentinel lymph node localisation with axillary node dissection in women with operable breast cancer.
To evaluate the use of lymphoscintigraphy sentinel lymph node mapping with scintillation gamma probe detection and blue dye assisted sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with invasive breast cancer. To compare the lymph nodes detected lymphosintigraphically and at surgery for invasive breast cancer and the accuracy of sentinel node prediction of axillary status. ⋯ A high proportion of sentinel nodes were demonstrated by lymphoscintigraphy and were subsequently removed surgically. When internal mammary nodes are identified surgical removal should be considered. In this small series sentinel lymph node status correctly predicted axillary node status in 100% of patients for whom sentinel nodes were retrieved supporting the concept of sentinel node biopsy only for women with normal sentinel lymph nodes. Evidence from randomised trials that sentinel node based management does not compromise regional control of breast cancer or survival, is awaited.