Use of Indocyanine green (ICG) dye for Sentinel lymph node biopsy in Breast cancer patients

Breast cancer is on the rise in India and there is a dearth of awareness of the problem and its consequences in our society. Axillary lymph node status provides important prognostic information in invasive breast cancer. Management of involved axilla has evolved over time. Fisher et al were the first to support the hypothesis that axillary dissection has prognostic significance. This led to the use of various options in the management of axilla including axillary lymph node dissection (ALND), axillary clearance, axillary dissection with regional lymph node radiation, regional radiation alone, axillary sampling, sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) and observation only.SLNB can be done using various dyes such as methyelene blue, fluroscein, radiocolloid, indocyanine green(ICG). Using ICG dye, the sentinel node can be visualised   using infrared light. With the intention of making SLNB as a standard procedure of choice we want to conduct a validation study using ICG for identification of sentinel node and by frozen section method followed by Axillary lymph node dissection in all patients there by assessing the accuracy, safety, and feasibility of SLNB in breast cancer patients at our institution.