Axillary lymph node dissection in breast cancer--current status and controversies, alternative strategies and future perspectives.

Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) has traditionally been considered as a standard procedure in the surgical management of patients with breast cancer. The goals of ALND in breast cancer surgery are: (a) to provide accurate prognostic information, (b) to maintain local control of the disease in the axilla and (c) to provide a rational basis for decisions about adjuvant therapy. Although controversial, ALND may also be associated with a small therapeutic benefit. Recently, the question of whether ALND is needed for every patient with invasive breast cancer has been the subject of ongoing debate in the literature. This is mainly due to the widespread use of adjuvant systemic therapy for patients with node-negative breast cancer and to the increasingly frequent detection of small invasive cancers by mammographic screening; the majority of these patients have negative axillae. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is a new, promising, minimally invasive procedure, which accurately predicts nodal status with minimal morbidity, and reserves ALND for patients with positive SLN biopsies. However, this method is still investigational. Partial (levels I and II) ALND remains the gold standard in the surgical management of patients with breast cancer.