Detection of sentinel lymph node in breast cancer recurrence may change adjuvant treatment decision in patients with breast cancer recurrence and previous axillary surgery

Use of sentinel lymph node dissection in patients with ipsilateral breast cancer recurrence is still controversial. The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of the sentinel lymph node in breast cancer recurrence (SLNBR) and whether the positivity had impact in the adjuvant treatment.Between 2008 and 2012 we performed SLNBR in patients with ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence. We included 53 patients in a prospective study. Forty-three patients (81%) had a previous axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) and ten (19%) had a previous sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). Identification rate after SLNB was 50% and after ALND was 60.5% (p = 0.4). Nine patients (26%) had a positive SLNBR. Adjuvant systemic treatment was given to all the patients with a positive SLNBR and to 23 (85%) with a negative SLNBR (p = 0.29). Six patients (66%) with positive SLNBR and 4 patients (14%) with negative SLNBR underwent radiation therapy (p < 0.01).As conclusions of our study we conclude that sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast tumor recurrence is feasible and significant differences were found in the use of radiation therapy in patients with a positive SLNBR.