Completion axillary lymph node dissection can be avoid in patients with invasive breast cancer and sentinel lymph node micrometastases

The prognostic value of sentinel lymph node (SLN) micrometastases in invasive breast cancer patients is still widely debated. Even if, in the absence of unequivocal guidelines, the axillary lynphadenectomy is not still performed in the routine clinical care of these patients.We have retrospectively analyzed 897 patients with operable invasive breast cancer and clinically negative axillary lymph nodes underwent conservative surgery or total mastectomy with SLN biopsy. Two groups of patients with SLN micrometastases and isolated tumor cells (ITC) were considered, the first one treated with completion axillary dissection, the second one not followed by further surgical axillary procedure. The …