Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

In this procedure the surgeon removes one or two of the sentinel lymph nodes. These are the nodes that are first in the lymphatic chain, meaning that they would be the first to become cancerous if the cancer had spread from the breast. The surgeon injects blue dye into the tumor, and the dye is transferred to the sentinel lymph node. The surgeon is able to locate the node by following the blue dye or using a Geiger counter to measure the radioactivity of the node. If the node is found to be free of cancer there is no need to perform a complete axillary node dissection.