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1: Breast Cancer Res. 2001;3(2):109-12. Epub 2001 Jan 23.Click here to read Click here to read Links

History of sentinel node and validation of the technique.

Tanis PJ, Nieweg OE, Valdés Olmos RA, Th Rutgers EJ, Kroon BB.

Department of Surgery, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ptanis@nki.nl

Sentinel node biopsy is a minimally invasive technique to select patients with occult lymph node metastases who may benefit from further regional or systemic therapy. The sentinel node is the first lymph node reached by metastasising cells from a primary tumour. Attempts to remove this node with a procedure based on standard anatomical patterns did not become popular. The development of the dynamic technique of intraoperative lymphatic mapping in the 1990s resulted in general acceptance of the sentinel node concept. This hypothesis of sequential tumour dissemination seems to be valid according to numerous studies of sentinel node biopsy with confirmatory regional lymph node dissection. This report describes the history and the validation of the technique, with particular reference to breast cancer.

PMID: 11250756 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC139441