Modulating the extension of axillary lymphadenectomy for early stage breast cancer.

Axillary lymph node evaluation remains essential in breast cancer surgery, first as a prognostic factor, because it indicates the degree of dissemination of the disease to the main lymphatic drainage basin of the breast, and, on the other hand, as an element of preventing the local relapse. In the era of the sentinel lymph node, complete axillary lymphadenectomy, considered valuable until recently, but as therapeutic and diagnostic, has become an intervention performed increasingly rare in selected cases. Axillary lymphatic tissue resections are accompanied by morbidity (lymphedema, paresthesia, limitations of arm movement) and symptom magnitude is proportional to the extension of the intervention. For this reason, a solution to avoid these kinds of complications was looked for. Since Gould, in 1960, who mentioned cancer parotid and continuing with Cabanas, Morton, or Veronesi, many surgeons have contributed to the development of safe techniques with which the multidisciplinary team involved in the surgical treatment for breast cancer could perform a safe oncological intervention and at the same time could conserve the healthy tissue, thus limiting morbidity. To achieve this standard, axillary lymphadenectomy has passed through several stages, from over radical interventions that followed the Halsted era, in which, besides axillary lymph nodes, the internal mammary and jugulo-carotidian lymph nodes were excised, to the absence of axillary surgery and replacing it with radiation therapy.

Evolution of radical mastectomy for breast cancer.

Surgical treatment of breast cancer has been marked by a constant evolution since the Halsted radical mastectomy described in the late 19th century has become the current standard Madden radical mastectomy, a breast surgery that involves the ablation of tissue with the axillary lymphatic preserving both pectoral muscles. The purpose of this paper was to present the stages that have marked the evolution of this intervention and to provide an overview of the way breast cancer has been understood and treated in the last century.

[Validation protocol of sentinel node biopsy for breast cancer using radioactive tracer at the Institute of Oncology Bucharest "Prof. Dr. Alexandru Trestioreanu"]. / Rezultatele protocolului de validare a tehnicii de identificare si biopsie a ganglionului santinela în cancerul glandei mamare folosind trasor radioactiv la Institutul Oncologic Bucuresti "Prof. Dr. Alexandru Trestioreanu".

The sentinel ganglion concept originates in the assumption according to which the primary tumor drains into a specific lymph node area and then runs through the lymphatic nodes in an orderly, sequential mode. When neoplastic dissemination along the lymphatic pathway occurs, there is an initial invasion of a specific lymph node (rarely more than one) located on the drainage route. That first lymph node has been identified as the sentinel node, which mirrors the regional lymph node status. In order to establish the indication for lymphadenectomy and avoid the situations in which such a surgical procedure would be of no use (N-), the only correct method consists in the identification and biopsy of the sentinel node which can be performed using vital staining (blue dye), radioactive tracers or both. The technique of sentinel lymph node identification and biopsy by means of radioactive tracing includes: -pre-surgical lymphoscintigraphy, -identification of the sentinel lymph node and its excisional biopsy, -intra-operative histopathological examination, paraffin embedded sections and immunohistochemical stains of the sentinel lymph node. The paper presents the refinement of the technique and the validation of the method for identification and biopsy of the sentinel lymph node in breast cancer with the intra-operative use of NEOPROBE 2000 gamma probe at the "Prof. Dr. Alexandru Trestioreanu" Oncological Institute in Bucharest. It is a prospective study which enrolled 93 patients with breast cancer between September 2003-December 2005, who underwent sentinel node biopsy. Complete axillary dissection (back-up lymphadenectomy) was performed in all cases. By comparing the pathological results of the frozen section of the sentinel node, with the paraffin embedded and immunohistochemical ones of the remaining axillary nodes, we present the following results: sensibility 97,15% (34/35), specificity 100% (93/93), positive predictive value 100% (34/34), negative predictive value 98,3% (58/59).