Abstract Background: The axillary lymph node stage is one of the single most important determinants in the prognosis of breast cancer patients. The disadvantages of the two previous methods used for evaluating axillary node metastasis, i.e., axillary lymph node dissection and sentinel lymph node biopsy, have directed researchers to investigate new techniques for this purpose. The aim of the cur...

BACKGROUND The new trend in diagnosis of the lymph node is sentinel node biopsy. This method has become increasingly accepted as a minimally invasive alternative to routine axillary dissection. Although the results of numerous studies have shown that sentinel node biopsy can accurately determine the axillary nodal status, the identification rates and false-negative rates have been variable. The...

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women. The 5-year survival rate in patients with breast cancer ranges from 74 to 82 %. Sentinel lymph node biopsy has become an alternative to axillary lymph node dissection for nodal staging. We evaluated the detection of the sentinel lymph node and metastasis of the lymph node using contrast enhanced ultrasonography with Sonazoid. Between Dec...

Axillary node status is a major prognostic factor in early-stage disease. Traditional staging needs levels I and II axillary lymph node dissection. Axillary involvement is found in 10%-30% of patients with T1 (<2 cm) tumours. Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a minimal invasive method of checking the potential nodal involvement. It is based on the assumption of an orderly progression of lymph node ...

The Permanente Journal/ Spring 2007/ Volume 11 No. 2 Since the Halsted radical mastectomy was introduced in 1894, breast cancer treatment has undergone major changes. More than a century later, breast conserving surgery is now accepted in the treatment armamentarium of early breast cancer. However, the role of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in breast cancer treatment continues to be cont...

The concept of breast cancer treatment is changed from maximal tolerable treatment to minimal effective treatment. There has been a change from axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) to sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). The current theory of breast cancer spreading to the axillary lymph nodes is established that if the metastatic cancer cell has spread to the axillary lymph node. The first node...

BACKGROUND Microvessel density (MVD) is a measure of the extent of new blood vessel growth or angiogenesis, which is required for tumor progression. Increased MVD in primary breast cancers appears to adversely affect disease-free survival and overall survival in patients with breast cancer. However, the clinical implications of angiogenesis in breast cancer metastases have not been well studied...

The concept of sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer surgery relates to the fact that the tumor drains in a logical way through the lymphatic system, from the first to upper levels. Therefore, the first lymph node met (the sentinel node) will most likely be the first to be affected by metastasis, and a negative sentinel node makes it highly unlikely that other nodes are affected. Because ...

Sentinel lymph node biopsy is now accepted as the initial approach for women with early stage breast cancer with clinically node-negative disease. We performed a pooled analysis of trials comparing axillary lymph node dissection to sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with early stage breast cancer and pathologically negative sentinel lymph node analysis. A systematic MEDLINE review identifie...

The primo vascular system (PVS) floating in lymph fluid has mostly been observed in large caliber ducts around the caudal vena cava and the thoracic duct of rabbits, rats, and mice. But the PVS has not been traced up to the lymph nodes. It has not been established whether the PVS leaves the lymph vessel through the lymph vessel wall or it enters the lymph nodes. Therefore, observing the PVS ent...