Effectiveness and reliability of sentinel lymph node biopsy under local anesthesia for breast cancer

The objective of the present study was to determine the effectiveness and reliability of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) performed under local anesthesia (LA) for patients with breast cancer, by comparing the results with those obtained under general anesthesia (GA). Between January 2006 and February 2007, SLNB was performed under LA or GA in 37 and 94 patients with clinical Tis, T1, T2 or T3 N0 breast cancer, respectively. All underwent radiocolloid and blue dye injections to identify sentinel nodes. The sentinel node detection rate, the number of nodes harvested and the number of positive nodes were compared between the two groups. The sentinel node identification rates were similar for both groups. The number of sentinel and axillary nodes removed and number of positive nodes did not differ significantly between the two groups. SLNB performed under LA is an effective and reliable alternative to SLNB done under GA.