Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 2, 2025
The Application of 1% Methylene Blue Dye As a Single Technique in Breast Cancer Sentinel Node Biopsy
Published on: June 1, 2019
Axillary Clearance Following Positive Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Symptomatic Breast Cancer
Hudhaifah Shaker1, Zeinab Mahate1, Grit Dabritz1
1Department of Breast Surgery, Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Manchester, U.K.
Background/Aim:
Symptomatic cancers display a different biological behaviour from screen-detected cancers, which may impact the management of axillary metastases. We aimed to determine the role of unselected axillary nodal clearance (ANC) in symptomatic patients with positive sentinel node biopsies (SNBs).
Patients And Methods:
A case-note review was performed on 95 symptomatic breast cancer patients who underwent ANC following positive SNB.
Results:
Thirty-eight (40%) patients were treated with a mastectomy and 57 (60%) with breast-conserving surgery. At ANC, 25 patients (26.3%) showed evidence of further lymph node metastases, with 15 (60%) having two or fewer macrometastases. The presence of more than 2 SNB macrometastases was associated with further ANC metastases (p<0.001). The presence of further metastases at ANC was not associated with either reduced overall survival or disease-free survival.
Conclusion:
A number of symptomatic breast cancer patients with positive SNBs may be overtreated. Ongoing trials examining the management of low volume SNB macrometastases need to consider the symptomatic subgroup in their conclusions.
More Related Videos
03:07Single-Port Robotic-assisted Transaxillary Breast-conserving Surgery: A Prospective, Single-arm, Non-randomized Phase IIa Clinical Trial
Published on: August 19, 2025
13:35Endoscopic Bilateral Nipple-sparing Mastectomy via a Single Axillary Incision with Immediate Pre-pectoral Implant-based Breast Reconstruction
Published on: May 17, 2024