Breast cancer and clinically negative status after neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Introduction: Axillary dissection is increasingly less indicated for axillary evaluation of patients with breast cancer and clinically negative axilla. This study evaluated the application of sentinel lymph node in patients with clinical axillary remission after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: Prospective study carried out from December 2017 to July 2018, at the Liga Norte Riograndense Contra o Cancer. We considered 24 patients who had a positive axilla and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy had clinical axillary remission (ypN0). Only patients with a strongly positive status during physical examination were included, and biopsy and ultrasound examinations were not required to confirm axillary disease. The dual-tracer technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy followed by axillary dissection was used. Results: The accuracy of the sentinel lymph node in patients with clinical axillary remission was 91.7%, with a false negative rate of 13.3% (2/24). It was observed that 66.6% of patients were stage I after chemotherapy and 13 patients with negative sentinel lymph node biopsy no longer had axillary disease. During the sentinel lymph node biopsy procedure, 16 patients (79.1%) had only 1 sentinel lymph node removed. Conclusions: For patients with clinical axillary remission after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, sentinel lymph node biopsy has been included in clinical practice, reducing the indications for axillary dissection and, consequently, its morbidity. The dual-agent mapping technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy and a sample of 3 lymph nodes at surgery decrease false-negative rates and make the procedure safer.