What are sentinel nodes?
Sentinel nodes are the first nodes that cancer may spread to from a tumor as it would be the first node(s) that it would drain to. Often 1 to 4 sentinel nodes may be sampled to give us a good indication of the nodal status of the remaining nodes. Why not just remove all the nodes? Over 80% of breast cancer patients have no node involvement. If the sentinel nodes are free of cancerous cells, we can confidently assume the remaining nodes further away from the tumor are clear also. Therefore, we can prevent complete axillary node removal and all the complications that can arise from having them removed such as poor lymph drainage (lymphedema). If the sentinel nodes contain some malignant cells, you may then require further surgery to remove the remaining nodes. How is this procedure done? On the day of your breast surgery, your surgeon would have made arrangements for you to go to one of the Nuclear Medicine departments (either at City Hospital or Royal University Hospital.) If you were s
