ABSTRACT
The status of the axillary lymph nodes remains the single best prognostic indicator in patients with early-stage breast cancer. Dissection of axillary nodes in Levels I and II is traditionally used to determine the presence or absence of nodal metastasis. This operation can cause numbness, lymphedema, and limitation of arm motion, however, as well as other potentially significant problems. A less-invasive surgical staging technique is sentinel lymph-node (SLN) biopsy, originally introduced by Morton et al for the identification of regional metastasis in patients with primary cutaneous melanoma.1
