[01] S. Gopalswamy, Department of Breast Surgery, Royal Cornwall Hospitals, Truro, UK. [02] M. Alchalabi, Department of Breast Surgery, Royal Cornwall Hospitals, Truro, UK.

Lymph node metastases are the most significant prognostic factors in patients with breast carcinoma. A lymph node defined as sentinel lymph node (SLN) would be the first to receive tumoral drainage. A positive sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is followed by an axillary lymph node clearance (ANC). In sentinel lymph node negative cases, the risk of positive non-sentinel lymph nodes (ANS: Axillary node sampling) is very low. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the rate of sentinel lymph node (SLN) positivity, number of SLN harvested, grade, size and type of the tumour in SLN positive cases and the percentage of ANS positivity, in addition to ANC complications. Patients and Methods— Between January 2009 and May 2010, 223 female patients with breast cancer who underwent wide local excision and the SLN biopsy were reviewed. 222 patients of them had SLN biopsy. Results— SLNs were positive in 44 of 223 (19.82%) The mean number of SLNs removed was 2.35; the median was 2. ANSs were positive in 5 of 117 cases. The mean number of ANSs removed was 2.25, the median was 2. The Commonest grade of tumour in cases of positive SLN was grade 2. The Commonest type of tumour was invasive ductal carcinoma (73.99%) followed by invasive lobular carcinoma (10.3%).The complications of ANC were seen in 25 patients (60.97%) out of 41 patients Conclusion—SLN positivity was 19.82% and the median SLN collected was 2. ANS positivity was 4.3%. The commonest grade was grade2. The Median size of tumour with positive SLN is 17mm.

Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN), Axillary Node Sampling (ANS), Axillary Node Clearance (ANC), Tumour Grade

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