Axillary lymphadenectomy can be safely avoided in patients with breast cancer and negative sentinel lymph node biopsy

10787 Background: Patients with breast cancer in which sentinel lymph node biopsy is histologically negative for tumor cells, have a low probability of having involvement of additional regional lymph nodes. Lymph node dissection may be avoided in these cases. Methods: Ninety-six consecutive patients with invasive breast cancer and tumour size less than 2 centimeters by mammography, had lymphoscintigraphy with colloidal 99Tc and radioisotope-guided sentinel lymph node biopsy in the University Hospital of Zaragoza from 1999 to 2005.Pathological assessment included serial sections of the sentinel lymph node with immunohistochemistry for cytokeratins in selected cases. Results: Sentinel lymph node biopsy was negative in 57 patients. There were 56 females and 1 male. Median age was 57 years (range 24–87). Median pathological tumor size was 15 mm (range 5–31). Location of the sentinel lymph node was axillary in 47patients, internal mammary in 0 patients, and both in 10 patients. Median number of resected lymph nodes was 2 (range 1–4). With median follow-up of 33 months, no local or systemic relapses have occurred. Conclusions: Avoidance of regional lymph node dissection is safe in patients with breast cancer and histologically negative sentinel lymph node biopsy. No significant financial relationships to disclose.