Introduction: In our unit sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is performed without intra-operative pathological nodal assessment. If node biopsies are positive the patients have to return at a later date for a complete axillary node clearance (ANC).
Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to ascertain if the use of pre-operative ultrasound assessment of the axilla with fine needle aspiration (FNA) sampling could identify patients with nodal metastases and therefore identify patients who should proceed primarily to ANC.
Results: Our study showed that 40 patients out of 119 had nodal metastases, and ultrasound correctly identified 19 of those patients.