Axillary Recurrence after Sentinel Node Biopsy Axilläres Rezidiv nach Wächterlymphknotenbiopsie

Abstract

Summary: Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy seems to be a promising new method for determining axillary status in breast cancer. The method helps to reduce morbidity, and an increased number of micrometastases are detected in the sentinel nodes by which patients with a less favourable outcome are identified. However, no long-term follow-up data is available. Methods: Data from 1567 breast cancer patients treated at nine institutions in Austria were collected in a centrally reviewed database. Included in this study were 383 patients with a negative sentinel node biopsy who were treated without axillary dissection. The median follow-up was 19.5 months. Results: Sentinel node biopsy was performed using blue dye (21.2 %), radiocolloid (24 %) or the combination of both methods (54.8 %).Two axillary recurrences were observed. Both patients developed distant disease synchronously or metachronously. Primary tumours of both patients showed high nuclear grading and negative hormone receptor status. Tumour size at primary diagnosis was 12 mm and 22 mm, respectively. Conclusions: The current results of sentinel node biopsy seem to confirm the accuracy of the method. There are only sporadic reports in the literature on axillary recurrence after sentinel node biopsy. The risk of treatment failure after sentinel node biopsy can only be determined after the completion of prospective randomized trials. Therefore, sentinel node biopsy should be performed within therapeutic concepts with quality control.