Our house believes that: The clipped lymph node is the true sentinel node after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in N plus patients

Axillary staging is an important prognostic factor in breast cancer, being sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) the gold standard staging method in early stages. However, in clinically node positive (cN+) patients who converted to clinically node-negative (cN0) after primary systemic therapy (PST) the axillary staging method during surgery remains controversial. There are at least three validated methods: SLNB, targeted axillary dissection (TAD) and marking axillary nodes with radioactive iodine seeds (MARI) procedure. Our house believe that the biopsied and clipped lymph node could predict response to systemic treatment.

Automated summary

Axillary staging is crucial for breast cancer prognosis, with SLNB being the gold standard for early stages. However, there is controversy over axillary staging in cN+ patients who convert to cN0 after PST. Current validated methods include SLNB, TAD, and MARI, and we believe that biopsied and clipped lymph nodes can predict response to systemic treatment.