A Comparison of Outcomes for the Patients with Pathologically Node-negative Breast Cancer and Who Were Treated Either with Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Only or with Conventional Axillary Lymph Node Dissection.
10.4048/jbc.2009.12.4.265
- Author:
Hyun Ah KIM
1
;
Eun Jeong JO
;
Min Suk KIM
;
Yang Hee KIM
;
Nam Sun PAIK
;
Nan Mo MOON
;
Jong Inn LEE
;
Kwang Mo YANG
;
Woo Chul NOH
Author Information
1. Department of Surgery, Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Science, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Korea. nohwoo@kcch.re.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Axillary lymph node dissection;
Breast neoplasms;
Disease free survival;
Sentinel lymph node biopsy;
Stage migration
- MeSH:
Breast;
Breast Neoplasms;
Disease-Free Survival;
Humans;
Lymph Node Excision;
Lymph Nodes;
Medical Records;
Neoplasm Metastasis;
Nitriles;
Prospective Studies;
Pyrethrins;
Recurrence;
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
- From:Journal of Breast Cancer
2009;12(4):265-271
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: False negative results obtained with the use of a sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) can result in down staging of tumors, whereas the use of a more elaborated pathological examination of sentinel lymph nodes might lead to upstaging of tumors. The purpose of this study was to compare results after performing only an SLNB as compared with performing conventional axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) without an SLNB in pathologically node negative (pN0) breast cancer patients. METHODS: From April 2004 to June 2007, SLNBs were performed for patients with primary breast cancer who had no clinical evidence of a lymph node metastasis. A total of 272 patients were treated with only an SLNB. During the same period, 278 patients were confirmed as pN0 after conventional ALND without an SLNB. A prospectively collected database and medical records of these patients were reviewed. RESULTS: For patients that had undergone only an SLNB, there was no local or regional recurrence. A distant metastasis developed in four patients (1.5%). In patients that had undergone ALND without an SLNB, a recurrence was found in 13 patients (4.7%). Patients that had undergone only an SLNB showed significantly better disease-free survival as compared to patients that had undergone ALND without an SLNB (p=0.032). CONCLUSION: pN0 patients treated with only an SLNB showed a significantly better outcome as compared to patients treated with conventional ALND without an SLNB. These results suggest that performing an SLNB might result in the upstaging of a subset of patients who would have been understaged by the use of conventional ALND.
