Oncologic Safety of Sentinel Node Biopsy in Clinically Palpable Axillary Lymph Node in Breast Cancer Patients

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in females and the 3rd leading cause of cancer mortality. One of the important aspects of breast cancer management is axillary staging and the status of axillary lymph nodes is an important prognosticator that affects adjuvant treatment decisions in patients with early breast carcinoma. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), is considered to be the standard of care for node negative breast cancer, as it can save patients from the complications of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). These complications include lymphedema, arm stiffness, and neuralgia, all of which significantly affect the patient's quality of life and raise healthcare costs. It also allows accurate axillary staging with minimal morbidity. Oncologic outcomes in terms of disease-free survival, overall survival, and locoregional recurrence rate were similar in the SLNB alone versus the ALND group in patients with clinically node-negative axilla. In doing the SLNB, a combination of radioactive technetium-99m and blue bye technique is preferred to increase the SLN identification rate than using one technique in isolation. The rationale for performing upfront SLNB as routine for patients being treated for breast cancer should be challenged, for this our study aiming for evaluation of the role of sentinel lymph node biopsy in management of breast cancer.