Why is it so important to know whether tumour cells are present in the glands under the arm?
The presence of tumour cells in the glands under the arm is a very strong indicator that this particular breast cancer puts you at risk of spread of the disease elsewhere (metastases). Hence very important decisions regarding the overall treatment of your breast cancer are made, based on whether the lymph glands contain tumour cells. This treatment may involve further surgery, radiotherapy, hormone treatment, chemotherapy or a combination of these treatments. How do you identify the sentinel lymph nodes? We use a combination of 3 methods to identify the sentinel lymph nodes : 1. Sentinel Node Imaging : This is usually done the day before or on the morning of your operation within the nuclear medicine department. A small amount of radioactive material is injected into the breast. This material is carried into the armpit by the lymph vessels and trapped in the sentinel node, which can be seen on a nuclear medicine scan. This scan only shows where the sentinel node is located, but not whe
