Sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer

Axillary lymphnode dissection (ALND) for breast cancer patients provides local control and information for the determination of the type of adjuvant therapy. The benefit of axillary surgery itself for survival is considered to be limited to patients with positive nodes. Sentinel node biopsy is a recently developed, minimally invasive technique for precisely predicting axillary nodal status. As this technique has less morbidity and greater accuracy than ALND, it replaces ALND for patients with node negative breast cancer. In this report, we outline the current status of sentinel node biopsy for breast cancer patients and introduce our preliminary results.