© 2005 Oxford University Press
NEWS |
Guidelines Promote Use of Sentinel Node Biopsy in Breast Cancer
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The use of sentinel node biopsy (SNB) in breast cancer has spread rapidly. Eight years ago, the percentage of breast cancer patients at five major cancer centers who had SNBs was 13%. Just 3 years later, it was 57%. And today, the staging procedure—in which the first, or sentinel, axillary lymph node to which breast tissue drains is sampled to determine whether tumor cells have spread beyond the breast—is practically universal.
"SNB is routinely used in place of axillary dissection by virtually all surgeons that do any volume of breast cancer," said Stephen Edge, M.D., of Roswell Park Cancer Center, Buffalo, N.Y., who led the five-center study. Edge and other experts agree that SNB is now the accepted standard of care in the United States and many other countries.
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Performance Guidelines
Micrometastases
Disseminating the Guidelines