Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Neo-Adjuvant Chemotherapy: Clinical Experience with Node-Negative and Node-Positive Disease Prior to Systemic Therapy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has emerged as the standard procedure to replace axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in breast cancer (BC) patients undergoing neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). SLNB is accepted in clinically node-negative (cN0) patients; however, its role in clinically node-positive (cN+) patients is debatable.

Methods

We performed a retrospective analysis of BC patients undergoing NAC and SLNB. Our aim was to evaluate the clinical significance of SLNB in the setting of NAC. This was accomplished by comparing the characteristics and oncological outcomes between cN0 and cN+ patients prior to NAC and type of axillary surgery.

Results

A total of 291 patients were included in the analysis: 131 were cN0 and 160 were cN+ who became ycN0 after N

SUBMITTER: Tinterri C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10046076 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature