title: Low risk of recurrence in breast cancer with negative sentinel node.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The sentinel lymph node (SLN) procedure has emerged as a safe staging method with a low morbidity. The objective of the present study was to examine the recurrence rates including especially the axillary recurrence rate in SLN-negative patients after a long follow-up period.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 344 breast cancer patients were referred to SLN biopsy at our department from January 2000 to May 2005. Lymphoscintigraphy with (99m)Tc-nanocolloid was followed by same-day radioprobe-guided surgery. Among the 344 patients, 181 were SLN-negative. The group of SLN-negative patients was followed with regard to recurrence in general and axillary recurrence in particular by reviewing their respective medical files from control visits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The identification rate (IR) was 99% (340/344). Extra-axillary SLNs were detected in seven patients (4%). One patient had an axillary recurrence 39 months after the primary operation, corresponding to an axillary recurrence rate of 0.6% after a median follow-up of 60 months (range 7-93).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With a high IR and an axillary recurrence rate of 0.6% after five years of follow-up, our data suggest that the SLN procedure is a valid and accurate method for the staging of breast cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Odense University Hospital, Denmark. malenehdk@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Malene Grubbe
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Hildebrandt
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bartram
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bak
authors.forename: Mette
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Højlund-Carlsen
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grupe
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knoop
authors.forename: Nis
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ryttov
authors.forename: Poul Flemming
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Højlund-Carlsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011379:Prognosis; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D016387:Women's Health