Cancer Resources > Cancer News > 2001 > February

Sentinel lymph node biopsy useful in male breast cancer

Last Updated: 2001-02-19 8:02:41 EST (Reuters Health) - Men with early stage breast carcinoma benefit from sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) as much as do women with breast cancer, according to a report in the January 15th issue of Cancer.

SLNB accurately assesses axillary lymph node status in women with early stage breast cancer, the authors explain, often sparing them the morbidity associated with a conventional axillary dissection.

As men face the same potential complications of axillary dissection as women do, Dr. Elisa Rush Port and colleagues from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York studied the utility of SLNB in 16 men with early stage, invasive breast carcinoma.

Surgeons successfully identified at least one sentinel lymph node in 15 of 16 patients, the authors report.

Ten patients had negative sentinel lymph nodes, the report indicates, and among the six patients who had additional nodes dissected, all of the additional lymph nodes were negative.

Five patients had at least one positive sentinel lymph node, the researchers note. Two patients who underwent immediate axillary dissection had additional positive nodes, and two others who returned to surgery for complete axillary dissection had no further positive nodes.

The sole patient in whom the surgeons could not identify a sentinel node underwent axillary dissection, the results indicate, and 1 of 17 lymph nodes was positive.

"SLNB appears to be as successful in men as it has been shown to be in women," the authors conclude. "For men with early stage breast carcinoma, SLNB may be offered as a surgical management option by surgeons who are experienced with the technique."

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