title: Clinical outcomes after sentinel lymph node biopsy in clinically node-negative breast cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate non-sentinel lymph node (LN) status after sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNB) in patients with breast cancer and to identify the predictive factors for disease failure.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 2006 to December 2007, axillary lymph node (ALN) dissection after SNB was performed for patients with primary invasive breast cancer who had no clinical evidence of LN metastasis. A total of 320 patients were treated with breast-conserving surgery and radiotherapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age of patients was 48 years, and the median follow-up time was 72.8 months. Close resection margin (RM) was observed in 13 patients. The median number of dissected SNB was two, and that of total retrieved ALNs was 11. Sentinel node accuracy was 94.7%, and the overall false negative rate (FNR) was 5.3%. Eleven patients experienced treatment failure. Local recurrence, regional LN recurrence, and distant metastasis were identified in 0.9%, 1.9%, and 2.8% of these patients, respectively. Sentinel LN status were not associated with locoregional recurrence (p > 0.05). Close RM was the only significant factor for disease-free survival (DFS) in univariate and multivariate analysis. The 5-year overall survival, DFS, and locoregional DFS were 100%, 96.8%, and 98.1%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, SNB was performed with high accuracy and low FNR and high locoregional control was achieved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Ji
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Cheil General Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ju Ree
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Rim
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ki Chang
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Keum
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Chang Ok
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Bae
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Axillary lymph node dissection; Breast neoplasms; Local; Neoplasm recurrence; Sentinel lymph node biopsy