Breast Cancer and Internal Mammary Sentinel Nodes

Background: The management of internal mammary ( ) nodes in breast IM cancer lacks a well-defined consensus. Lymphoscintigraphy identifies up to onethird of breast cancer patients with extra-axillary drainage, which is mainly located in the chain.Our aim in this meta-analysis is to identify the lymphoscintigraphy IM technique variables that effect node identification. IM Methods: An internet database was utilized to review articles concerning sentinel nodes and breast cancer from 1993 through the end of 2011; 74 articles met our inclusion criteria. The total number of patients included was 22959. We grouped the citations by injection location and injection material. We then analyzed the rate of identification of nodes according to these groupings and IM