BACKGROUND: Axillary staging provides the single most important piece of prognostic information in @entity0 @entity1 . This retrospective study was performed to document the phenomenon of stage migration. METHODS: Of 392 @entity1 , 5 (1%) failed identification of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) and therefore underwent @entity1600 ( @entity1600 ). Four @entity1 (80%) had metastatic lymph nodes, 302 (77%) @entity1 had negative SLNs, 47 (15%) underwent @entity1600 , 85 (22%) had positive SLNs, 11 (13%) received adjuvant radiation treatment to the axilla, and 74 (87%) underwent completion @entity1600 . RESULTS: The median (quartiles) follow-up period was 29 months (19-46 mo). Twenty of 392 (5%) @entity1 had disease relapse; 2 of which were local (.5%) and the rest were systemic. Earlier relapse was related significantly to lymph node status, @entity5 grade, and @entity5 size. @entity4298 -negative @entity1 who did not receive @entity1600 had a relapse rate of 2.3% (6 of 256) compared with 0% in those who were truly negative based on confirmatory @entity1600 . @entity4298 -positive @entity1 who did not receive @entity1600 had a 9% (1 of 11) relapse rate. DISCUSSION: The stage-matched pattern of relapse between @entity4298 biopsy and @entity1600 @entity1 revealed lower relapse rates in @entity4298 biopsy-staged @entity1 , documenting the stage migration phenomenon.

Stage migration with sentinel node biopsy in XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity0 :: ('MESH:D001943', 'Disease') :: ['breast cancer'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['tumor'] @entity1600 :: ('MESH:D014388', 'Disease') :: ['axillary lymph node dissection', 'ALND'] @entity4298 :: ('6588', 'Gene') :: ['SLN']
@entity0 :: (MESH:D001943,Disease) :: ['breast cancer']
