Internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy in clinical practice

Mehdi Asadi; David Krag

doi:10.1016/j.ijsu.2016.11.034

Internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy in clinical practice

Int J Surg. 2016 Dec;36(Pt A):332-334. doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2016.11.034. Epub 2016 Nov 14.

Authors

Mehdi Asadi¹, David Krag²

Affiliations

¹ Surgical Oncology Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Electronic address: asadi_mdr@yahoo.com.
² Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of Vermont, USA. Electronic address: David.krag@uvm.edu.

PMID: 27856352
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2016.11.034

Abstract

Almost all recent studies confirmed internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy (IM-SLNB) as an accurate and valuable technique to determine stage, prognosis, and best treatment option in breast cancer patients. Decision about local treatment of internal mammary lymph nodes (IMLN) is still being made based on Axillary lymph node (ALN) status. According to study results, there will be patients in positive ALN subgroup who just face complications of an unnecessary radiation to IMLNs and there will be patients in negative ALN subgroup who do not receive adjuvant radiation therapy they really need, if we insist to continue planning IMLN treatment based on ALN status. It seems that patients with bonafide drainage to IMLNs will benefit from IM-SLNB regardless of their ALN status.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Internal mammary lymph node biopsy; Internal mammary lymph nodes.

Publication types

Editorial

MeSH terms

Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
Breast Neoplasms / therapy*
Clinical Decision-Making*
Female
Humans
Lymphatic Metastasis / diagnosis*
Neoplasm Staging
Radiotherapy, Adjuvant
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy*