Axillary recurrence rate in breast cancer patients with negative sentinel lymph node.

AIM To assess the axillary recurrence rate in operable breast cancer patients with clinically negative axilla after negative sentinel lymph node in whom axillary lymph node dissection had not been performed. METHODS Fifty consecutive female operable breast cancer patients with negative sentinel lymph node biopsy in whom axillary lymph node dissection had not been performed were included in the study and prospectively followed, with median follow-up time of 32 months (range 10-50 months). Sentinel lymph node biopsy was performed by the triple method. RESULTS The sentinel node identification rate was 100%. In only one of 50 patients with negative sentinel lymph node, axillary recurrence developed 26 months after surgery. This was the sole patient with sentinel lymph node biopsy after previous surgical biopsy. After treatment, all patients were alive and with no evidence of disease. CONCLUSIONS Omitting axillary node dissection after negative sentinel node biopsy in operable breast cancer patients proved to be safe. Patients with previous open surgical biopsy should be given special attention in the follow-up.