Lymphatic mapping for the dissection of the sentinel node in the treatmentof breast carcinoma

The Authors present the preliminary results of a study aimed at verifying t he effectiveness of lymphatic mapping for the dissection of the sentinel ly mph node in the treatment of breast carcinoma. The lymphoscintigraphy metho d was used in the study performed on 24 patients to evidence the sentinel l ymph node. The sentinel lymph node was identified in 23/24 patients (95,8%) , with 100% accuracy, negative predictions were 100% (21/21). Consistently with the low number of cases treated, our results seem to guarantee the sam e prognostic accuracy obtained using radical lymphadenectomy extended to th e third lymph node level.