Sentinel node biopsy should be supplemented by axillary sampling in patients with small breast cancers

Axillary clearance provides important prognostic information but is associated with significant morbidity. Sentinel node biopsy can provide staging .141 patients with node negative early breast cancers-tumour size less than 1.5 cm measured clinically or by imaging had guided axillary sampling (sentinel lymph node biopsy in combination with axillary sampling). Four node axillary sampling improved the detection rate of axillary node metastases by 13.6% as compared to blue dye sentinel node biopsy alone. Positive sampled nodes strongly indicated the likelihood of further metastatic being revealed by axillary dissection (67%). Negative sampled nodes in combination with a positive sentinel node biopsy were associated with a much lower rate of further nodal involvement in the axillary clearance (8%).