Klin Onkol 2007; 20(4): 283-286.
The sentinel lymph node biopsy has been the standard procedure in unicentric breast cancer for several years. The method was adopted following validation studies performed in the last decade. In these studies the false negativity rate reached up to 10%. Initially, multifocality or multicentricity of the primary tumor had been considered a contraindication of the sentinel node biopsy. The reasoning was based on the assumption of different lymphatic drainage (with different sentinel lymph nodes) for different areas of the breast. However, lymphoscintigraphic studies showed that the whole breast represents a singular lymphatic unit with one (or a group of several) sentinel lymph node(s) in more than 90% of cases. This corresponds with results of recent studies in multifocal and/or multicentric cancer in which the false negativity rate is not higher than in unicentric cancers. Sentinel lymph node biopsy can be regarded a standard surgical procedure in regional lymph nodes in multifocal and multicentric breast cancer.
