Micrometastases Mangement

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is now the standard of care used in the staging of the regional lymph nodes in breast cancer. As result of the wide adoption of SLNB attention turned into a detailed examination of the biopsied lymph node(s) and subsequent rise in the incidence of finding lymph node micrometastases. Micrometastases(pN1mi) is defined as a metastatic disease in the lymph node that is less than 2.0 mm but larger than 0.2mm. Isolated tumor cells (ITC) is defined as a metastatic disease in the lymph node that is smaller or equal to 0.2mm. With the rise of incidence of axillary micrometastases, there is a considerable debate on the prognostic significance and appropriate treatment recommendations for such patients.

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