The value of sentinel lymph-node biopsy in women with node-positive breast cancer at diagnosis and node-negative tumour after neoadjuvant therapy: a systematic review

Purpose To conduct a systematic review to analyse the performance of the sentinel lymph-node biopsy (SLNB) in women with node-positive breast cancer at diagnosis and node-negative tumour after neoadjuvant therapy, compared to axillary lymph-node dissection. Methods The more relevant databases were searched. Main outcomes were false-negative rate (FNR), sentinel lymph-node identification rate (SLNIR), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy. We conducted meta-analyses when appropriate. Results Twenty studies were included. The pooled FNR was 0.14 (95% CI 0.11-0.17), the pooled SLNIR was 0.89 (95% CI 0.86-0.92), NPV was 0.83 (95% CI 0.79-0.87), and summary accuracy was 0.92 (95% CI 0.90-0.94). SLNB performed better when more than one node was removed and double mapping was used. Conclusions SLNB can be performed in women with a node-negative tumour after neoadjuvant therapy. It has a better performance when used with previous marking of the affected node and with double tracer.

Automated summary

This systematic review analyzed the performance of sentinel lymph-node biopsy (SLNB) in women with node-positive breast cancer at diagnosis and node-negative tumor after neoadjuvant therapy compared to axillary lymph-node dissection. The results showed that SLNB has a low false-negative rate, high lymph-node identification rate, good negative predictive value, and high accuracy. The performance of SLNB can be improved with double mapping and marking the affected node.