BACKGROUND Any sentinel lymph node that receives lymph drainage directly from a primary melanoma site, regardless of its location, may contain metastatic disease. This is true even if the sentinel node does not lie in a recognized node field. Interval (in-transit) nodes that lie along the course of a lymphatic vessel between a primary melanoma site and a recognized node field are sometimes seen...

background: the sentinel lymph node (sln) is defined as the first chain node in the lymphatic basin that receives primary lymphatic flow. if the sln is negative for metastatic disease, then other nodes are expected to be disease-free. sln techniques have been extensively applied in the staging and treatment of many tumors, including melanoma, breast and vulvar cancers. this study aims to evalua...

Axillary nodal status is the most important prognostic factor for patients with breast cancer. Clinical assessment and imaging modalities are not always reliable. Surgical removal and histopathological examination of axillary lymph nodes remain essential methods of staging the axilla and planning breast cancer therapy (Chu et al, 2010; Perry, 2001) But whether axillary lymph node dissection imp...

OBJECTIVE To document experience with sentinel lymph-node biopsy in patients who have already undergone a wide local excision for melanoma because in many centres previous wide excision has been a contraindication for sentinel lymph-node biopsy. DESIGN A prospective cohort study. SETTING A tertiary care academic cancer centre. PATIENTS One hundred patients who presented with cutaneous mel...

The procedure of sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with malignant cutaneous melanoma has evolved from the notion that the tumor drains in a logical way through the lymphatic system, from the first to subsequent levels. As a consequence, the first lymph node encountered (the sentinel node) will most likely be the first affected by metastasis; therefore, a negative sentinel node makes it hig...

List of Papers This thesis is based on the following papers, which are referred to in the text by their Roman numerals. Serial sectioning of breast cancer sentinel nodes does not significantly improve false negativity rate. Manuscript. on behalf of the Swedish Breast Cancer Group and the Swedish Society of Breast Surgeons. Axillary recurrence rate 5 years after negative sentinel node biopsy for...

Axillary lymph node dissection represents the standard surgical treatment for breast cancer patients with clinically or histologically involved axillary lymph nodes. However, it is associated with significant morbidity, including postoperative arm lymphedema and neuropathy of the involved extremity, and seroma formation in the axilla (Noguchi et al., 1997). Particularly, arm lymphedema develops...

Background. Most institutions require a patient undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy to go through nuclear medicine prior to surgery to be injected with radioisotope. This study describes the long-term results using intraoperative injection of radioisotope. Methods. Since late 2002, all patients undergoing a sentinel lymph node biopsy at the Yale-New Haven Breast Center underwent intraoperativ...

.................................................................................................. 7 Introduction ............................................................................................ 9 Review of the Literature ............................................................................ 11 1. Breast Cancer Incidence and Survival ..............................................