Removal of two sentinel nodes accurately stages the axilla in XXXX .

@entity1 @entity1600 @entity0
BACKGROUND: Assessment of lymph node status in @entity0 is still necessary for staging. @entity1600 ( @entity1600 ) may provide accurate staging with less morbidity than axillary clearance. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the number of sentinel nodes removed on the false-negative rate. METHODS: Data were collected prospectively from 395 @entity1 undergoing @entity1600 for @entity0 , between June 1995 and December 2001. All nodes that were hot and/or blue were removed and analysed. RESULTS: During this interval 136 @entity1 who had @entity1600 were lymph node positive. The median number of sentinel nodes removed was two (range one to five). The overall false-negative rate of @entity1600 in these @entity1 was 7.1 per cent. If only one sentinel node had been removed, the false-negative rate would have been 16.5 per cent. The removal of more than two nodes had no effect on axillary staging in all but two @entity1 . CONCLUSION: In early @entity0 , when there were multiple sentinel nodes, removal of two sentinel nodes significantly reduced the false-negative rate compared with removal of one node. Removing more than two sentinel nodes did not significantly reduce the false-negative rate further.
