Prise en charge du creux axillaire dans le cancer du sein

Axillary lymph node involvement in breast cancer patients remains the most important prognostic factor for survival and recurrence. Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a minimally invasive approach allowing an oncological safe evaluation for ductal in situ carcinomas as well as early invasive breast cancers. Axillary lymph node dissection can be omitted if the sentinel node is negative. Even if associated with non-negligeable morbidity, axillary lymph node dissection is still indicated if palpable nodes are found, for larger tumors, multicentric disease or if the sentinel is metastatic.