Statistics from the Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment Center at Peking University Cancer Hospital show that during the 8-year period from June 2005 to June 2013, a total of 4,173 patients were diagnosed with invasive cancer and had an anterior lymph node biopsy, of whom 2,947 had negative biopsies and were exempted from axillary clearance, with a median follow-up of 102 months. The axillary recurrence rate was only 0.9% in patients who were exempted from clearance.
The data from foreign studies during the same period showed that the local axillary recurrence rate in patients without clearance after anterior postoperative surgery was 0.3% to 1.2%.
This recurrence rate is clinically acceptable, so we say that it is safe and reliable to dispense with axillary lymph node dissection in patients with negative anterior sentinel lymph node biopsy.