Sentinel lymph node biopsy
Removing just the first lymph node a tumour drains to, instead of all of them, to check for spread.
Standard in breast cancer and melanoma; replaced full node dissection for most patients (Z0011, AMAROS). Now being omitted entirely in low-risk breast cancer (SOUND, INSEMA trials), an example of surgical de-escalation driven by better systemic therapy and imaging.
How it works
Tracer (radiocolloid, blue dye, ICG, magnetic) injected at tumour identifies draining node.
- Avoids lymphoedema from full dissection
- False negatives in ~5-10%
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"sentinel lymph node biopsy" OR ABSTRACT:"sentinel lymph node biopsy" OR TITLE:"sentinel node" OR ABSTRACT:"sentinel node") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Sentinel lymph node biopsy, not a curated reading list.