[Limitations of sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer]

Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a widely accepted new surgical procedure in the treatment of early breast cancer. However, not only numerous details of the technique, but also limitations of the method, such as maximal tumor size, multifocal disease, accuracy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy and appropriateness in ductal carcinoma in situ are being debated. Recent multicenter studies could establish the lower morbidity of sentinel lymph node biopsy compared to axillary clearance as well as the false-negative rate which lies between 7 and 9.7%. In unifocal T1 disease with clinically negative axillary lymph nodes, the method is considered to be standard of care. Evidence is growing that it may also be appropriate in larger and multifocal tumors while the method is unreliable after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.