One of the biggest fears of women today is breast cancer. However, thanks to advances in medicine, it is not necessary to remove all lymph nodes in the armpit during surgery.
With sentinel lymph node biopsy, the “first lymph node” in the armpit can be found and removed with gamma probe technology.
Breast cancers can be detected at earlier stages compared to the past, with frequent screenings in recent years and increasing awareness of community members.
He states that breast-conserving surgical interventions in early-stage breast cancers are becoming increasingly common. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is routinely performed by surgeons instead of axillary lymph node dissection, which is based on the removal of all axillary lymph nodes for staging and local tumor control. . Treatment may vary depending on the size of the tumor or the presence of metastases to the axillary lymph nodes.
In patients with no or limited amount of tumor detected in the armpit with sentinel lymph node biopsy, they do not remove all of the lymph nodes, thus preventing possible problems in patients. This method can be applied in all patients whose breast cancer has not spread to the armpit. The method can also be applied successfully in previously operated breasts, multifocal tumors, patients who received chemotherapy before surgery, pregnant patients, and male breast cancer.
In order to achieve acceptable success rates, a team of surgeons, radiologists, nuclear medicine specialists and pathologists requires multidisciplinary work.