Clinical axillary recurrence in breast cancer patients after a negative sentinel node biopsy.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to determine the axillary recurrence rate in breast cancer patients with a negative sentinel lymph node who did not have an axillary node dissection.

METHODS

Sentinel lymphadenectomy for breast cancer patients, without axillary node dissection if the node was negative, was introduced in 1998 at our institution. This study includes those women with a negative sentinel lymph node. Adjuvant chemotherapy was administered based on primary tumor characteristics. If breast radiotherapy was used, no attempt was made to include the axilla.

RESULTS

From January 1998 to December 2001, 206 patients (208 breast cancers) had a negative sentinel lymph node. The median age at diagnosis was 56 years and median tumor size was 1.2 cm. With a median follow-up of 26 months, there have been 3 axillary recurrences with a clinical sentinel lymph node false negative rate of 1.4%.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, the clinical false negative rate of a sentinel lymph node biopsy is 1.4%. Our study provides further evidence supporting the use of sentinel lymphadenectomy in women with breast cancer.