O estadiamento ganglionar na actualidade

The need to perform an Axillary Dissection when the Sentinel Node is metastasized, in Breast Cancer patients, is being questioned. Most part of the patients do not have any additional metastasis in the Non Sentinel Nodes and, in many cases, the decision to perform adjuvant treatments is not dependent on the axillary nodes analysis. The recent publication of the randomized trial ACOSOG Z0011 launched the discussion on the need and usefulness of the axillary lymph node dissection. Keywords: Breast Cancer; Node Staging, Sentinel Node, Non-Sentinel Node, Axillary Radiotherapy, Lymphedema.