ABSTRACT
The treatment of breast cancer has evolved from the radical, disfiguring mastectomy described by Halsted in the late nineteenth century to the less invasive, less debilitating lumpectomy and axillary lymph-node dissection (ALND) as new discoveries have been made into the mechanism of the spread of breast cancer. Independent of the method of treatment of the primary cancer, accurate assessment of the status of the axillary lymph nodes has remained an integral part of the management of breast cancer. The status of the axillary lymph nodes is the single most important predictor for survival, and the presence of lymph-node metastasis dictates the need for adjuvant chemotherapy.
