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Updated: Jul 24, 2026
The Application of 1% Methylene Blue Dye As a Single Technique in Breast Cancer Sentinel Node Biopsy
Published on: June 1, 2019
Population-based sentinel lymph node biopsy in early invasive breast cancer
P Fenaroli1, M Merson, L Giuliano
1Breast Cancer Unit, Surgical Department, Ospedali Riuniti, Bergamo, Italy.
Introduction:
Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has been proposed as a reliable method for staging of early invasive breast cancer (EIBC). In the present study we analyse the impact of this procedure when systematically applied to all unselected women of a community-based Breast Cancer Unit (BCU).
Methods:
All consecutive women with unifocal cT1-2 (
Results:
Only 387 of all consecutive 542 patients met eligibility criteria for SLNB. Reasons for ineligibility included tumour size, palpable axillary nodes, plurifocality and/or multicentricity, and refusal to undergo the procedure. Successful SLNB was performed in 362 patients (94% of those eligible), but in 108 of these axillary dissection (AD) had to be performed anyway, mainly because of SLN-positivity. Therefore, SLNB ultimately allowed sparing axillary dissection in 256 patients out of the entire population of women with EIBC.
Conclusions:
Radiocolloid-guided SLNB, when appropriately applied in the context of a population-based service, can help in sparing unnecessary AD, with its related costs and morbidity, in approximately half of all women presenting with EIBC. In absolute terms, in the EU this could result in approximately 100,000 unnecessary AD avoided each year.
