Evaluation of sentinel lymph node biopsy prior to axillary lymph node dissection: the role of isolated tumor cells/micrometastases and multifocality/multicentricity—a retrospective study of 1214 breast cancer patients

Purpose Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) alone has thus become an accepted surgical approach for patients with limited axillary metastatic disease. We investigated to what extent isolated tumor cells (ITC) or micrometastasis in SLNBs is associated with proven tumor cells or metastasis in non-sentinel lymph nodes. Furthermore, we investigated the feasibility of SLNB in multifocal and multicentric tumors as both entities have been considered a contraindication for this technique.