Video-assisted breast surgery can sample the second and third sentinel nodes to omit axillary node dissection for sentinel-node-positive patients

Background The preservation of the axillary node (AN) has become standard therapy for early breast cancer patients with a metastasis-positive sentinel node (SN). However, about half of the patients with metastasis in the SN have no metastasis in the other AN. Late-phase three-dimensional computed tomographic lymphography (3D-CT LG) of the breast can show the axillary lymphatic architecture from the SN into the venous angle. These nodes are classified into five groups. For the sake of aesthetics, video-assisted breast surgery (VABS) was used to sample the second and third nodes shown by 3D-CT LG.