Long-term follow-up results of breast cancer patients with sentinel lymph node biopsy using periareolar injection

BACKGROUND: Areolar injection for sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in breast cancer surgery has been adopted by many institutions. However, only one study has reported the follow-up results for patients whose SLNB was performed with this injection method alone. METHODS: Three hundred eighty patients with breast cancer underwent SLNB with periareolar injection of both blue dye and radiotracer. The follow-up consisted of a physical examination every 3 months and annual mammography. RESULTS: Of 380 patients with SLNB, 261 were found to have negative sentinel lymph nodes so that no ALND was performed. At a median follow-up of 39 months (range 13-74), 2 of the 261 patients developed axillary recurrence for an axillary relapse incidence of .77%. Five-year distant disease-free survival was 96.9%, and overall survival was 99.4%. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of axillary recurrence for the areolar injection method was low and consistent with that reported in other observational studies using other injection methods. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.