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Incidence of axillary recurrence in 113 sentinel node negative breast cancer patients: a 3-year follow-up study
M C Kokke1, I Jannink, P C Barneveld
1Department of Surgery, Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis, P.O. Box 90153, 5200 ME 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.
Backgrounds/Aims:
This study evaluates the 3-year follow-up period and recurrence rate in patients with a negative sentinel node biopsy (SNB) without an additional axillary dissection (ALND).
Methods:
Between January 2000 and March 2002, 197 patients with an invasive breast cancer and clinically negative axillary nodes underwent a sentinel node biopsy. One hundred and thirteen patients were included in our study. The follow-up consisted of clinical examination every 3 months in the first year, followed by every 6 months after the first year. A mammography was obtained annually. Attention was paid to loco-regional recurrence, including axillary recurrence, and distant metastases.
Results:
The mean duration of follow-up was 37.5 months (range 24-54). In this period, one patient was diagnosed with an axillary recurrence and one patient developed a supraclavicular lymph node metastasis. Two patients developed a second primary breast cancer in the contralateral breast. No patients were diagnosed with distant metastasis.
Conclusion:
These 3 year follow-up results suggest that SNB is a procedure with a low clinical recurrence rate, which can replace, when strict criteria are met, ALND if the sentinel node is negative.
