[Avoidance of axillary lymph node dissection in breast cancer patients with metastatic sentinel node - a pilot study]

Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is a standard procedure for locoregional control in metastatic sentinel lymph nodes (SN). A number of studies have provided evidence that avoiding ALND does not worsen the general prognosis.

A group of 249 female patients with sentinel lymph node biopsy was analysed retrospectively for a 3-year period. The patients were divided into two groups - with non-metastatic SN and with metastatic SN. In the metastatic SN group, the patients were further divided into a group with ALND and a group without ALND, and additional lymph nodes (non-sentinel) in ALND and oncological treatment were evaluated. The goal was to find out whether ALND and oncological treatment affect the disease-free interval (DFI) and overall survival (OS) in the group of patients with metastatic SN and to compare the results with the control group. The histopathology and biology of the primary tumour, its size and the number of metastatic SN were subsequently evaluated as the factors that may be useful for predicting metastatic non-sentinel lymph node positivity.

There was a high risk of metastatic non-sentinel lymph nodes in the cases of metastatic SN (63%). Addition of ALND does not prolong either DFI or DFS without post-operative radiotherapy and systemic oncological treatment, both of which can provide a comparable length of DFI as well as DFS without ALND. Patients with metastatic SN with and without ALND had a DFI of 70 and 72 months, respectively, and a 5-year survival of 84% and 80%, respectively. Tumours over 2 cm, tumours with high proliferative activity and a high grade can be regarded as predictors of metastatic non-sentinel lymph nodes.

In a small patient group it has been demonstrated that the avoidance of ALND in 1 or 2 metastatic SN, regardless of the prognostic factors, does not affect either DFI or DFS if adjuvant oncological treatment is administered. High-grade tumours, tumours with high proliferative activity and tumours larger than 2 cm carry a significantly higher risk of metastatic non-sentinel lymph nodes. Nowadays, the avoidance of ALND in metastatic SN is not a lege artis procedure; further large studies are needed to create scientific guidelines.Key words: metastatic sentinel lymph node - avoidance of axillary dissection - breast cancer.