Axillary dissection in @entity1 with @entity0 is associated with significant morbidity. Because 85% of the @entity1 with a @entity5 < or = 1 cm have negative axillary nodal status, axillary dissection in these @entity1 is only a staging procedure. A study of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy has been developed to determine axillary nodal status by means of a minimally invasive procedure. The aim of our study was to estimate the degree of reliability for identifying the SLN using a vital dye or lymphoscintigraphy, or a combination of the two. From January 1999 to May 2000 a series of 60 @entity1 with @entity0 were evaluated for enrollment in the study. For the mapping procedure, lymphoscintigraphy in combination with injection of vital blue dye was performed in 24 @entity1 , and vital dye alone was utilized in 36. Complete axillary dissection was performed in all @entity1 after SLN biopsy. The mapping procedure was possible in 59 cases (98.3%). The SLNs were positive in 19 @entity1 (32.2%) and negative in 40; in 38 of the 40 @entity1 all axillary nodes were negative. There was concordance in 57 of 59 cases (96.6%). The false-negative rate was 5% (2/40). The overall sensitivity of the SLN biopsy was 90.4% (19/21), with a negative predictive value of 95% (38/40). Our results indicate that SLN biopsy guided by a gamma probe in combination with vital dye can identify a negative axilla with high accuracy. We conclude that the use of both techniques produces an optimal result, as they are complementary.

Effect of the use of vital dye, lymphoscintigraphy, or a combination for axillary lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy in XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['cancer'] @entity0 :: ('MESH:D001943', 'Disease') :: ['breast cancer']
@entity0 :: (MESH:D001943,Disease) :: ['breast cancer']
