Background:

Sentinel node detection localizes the first node that drains a malignant lesion aiming to detect tumor dissemination.

Aim:

To assess the yield of sentinel node detection in breast cancer, using pre or intraoperative scintigraphy.

Material and Methods:

Review of medical records of patients with breast cancer who had a scintigraphic detection of sentinel nodes. Lymph node scintigraphy and surgery were performed in the same day.

Results:

We studied 174 women aged 53 ± 13 years, operated with a diagnosis of breast cancer, including six highly suspicious lesions in the contralateral breast (totaling 180 studied breasts). Preoperative scintigraphy showed a sentinel node in 174 of 180 breasts (97%). Intraoperative gamma probe confirmed the presence of the sentinel node in the same 174 breasts and detected an additional one reaching a detection yield of 97%. Four patients in whom a sentinel node was not detected in the preoperative scintigraphy, had macrometastases. Frozen section biopsies were available in 177 of 180 breasts. Metastases were informed in 45 patients who underwent axillary lymph node dissection, plus one additional patient with a suspicious lesion.

Conclusions:

A high rate of sentinel node detection in the preoperative scintigraphy was observed. Most sentinel nodes not detected with nuclear medicine had macrometastases. In 71% of patients, the detection of sentinel node avoided axillary lymph node dissection.