Probability of axillary lymph node metastasis when sentinel lymph node biopsy is negative in women with clinically node negative breast cancer: a bayesian approach

摘要

Although sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is highly accurate in predicting axillary nodal status in patients with breast cancer, it has been shown that the procedure is associated with a few false negative results. The risk of leaving metastatic nodes behind in the axillary basin when SLNB is negative should be estimated for an individual patient if SLNB is performed to avoid conventional axillary lymph node dissection (ALND).