Sentinel node detection in pre-operative axillary staging

Sentinel lymph node (SLN) localisation and biopsy represent one of the most important developments in surgery and have already produced important changes in the management of patients affected by early infiltrating breast carcinoma. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) was first applied in melanoma patients by Morton and colleagues (Morton et al. 1992); they intra-operatively injected the patent with vital blue dye close to the primary lesion, and the blue-stained SLN was later found by dissection, following tracer diffusion. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg