Reoperative sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with locally recurrent breast cancer

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is considered a standard of care in the staging of breast cancer. The objective was to examine our experience with reoperative SLNB. Methods: We identified19 patients in our breast cancer database who had a SLNB in the reoperative setting. All 19 patients had undergone previous breast-conserving surgery with either an axillary lymph node dissection or an SLNB. The reoperative sentinel lymph node (SLN) was identified using blue dye, radioisotope, or both. Results: The SLN was identified in 84% of the reoperative cases. Of these successful cases, both blue dye and radioisotope were used in five cases, and radioisotope alone was used in 11 cases. Radioisotope identified the SLN in the 100% of successful SLNB cases (P = .0003). There were 3 unsuccessful cases in which blue dye and radioisotope failed to identify the sentinel node. Conclusions: Reoperative SLNB after previous axillary surgery is technically feasible.