title: Axillary metastases in breast cancer patients with negative sentinel nodes: a follow-up of 3548 cases.
abstract: PREMISES: Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) in patients with breast carcinoma accurately predicts the axillary node status. However, in some 4-7% of patients with negative sentinel nodes, the remaining axillary nodes harbour cancer cells.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our purpose was the long-term observation of a large number of patients who did not receive axillary dissection after a negative sentinel node biopsy, in order to evaluate the incidence of overt axillary metastases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients (3548) treated from 1996 to 2004, with negative sentinel nodes not submitted to axillary dissection, were followed up to 11 years with a median follow-up of 48 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred and sixteen unfavourable events occurred among the 3548 patients, 196 of which (5.5%) related to primary breast carcinoma. Thirty one cases of overt axillary metastases were found (0.9%): they received total axillary dissection and 27 of them are at present alive and well. The 5-year overall survival rate of the whole series was 98%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with negative sentinel node biopsy not submitted to axillary dissection show, at follow-up, a rate of overt axillary metastases lower than expected.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Director European Institute of Oncology, Via G. Ripamonti 435, I-20141 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Veronesi
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Galimberti
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paganelli
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maisonneuve
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Viale
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Orecchia
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luini
authors.forename: Mattia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Intra
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Veronesi
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caldarella
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Renne
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rotmensz
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sangalli
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Brito Lima
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tullii
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zurrida
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001365:Axilla; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis; D012086:Reoperation; D012306:Risk; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen