REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1598730
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Omission in Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Current Evidence and Clinical Practice
Provisionally accepted
- 1The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, zhengzhou, China
- 2First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
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Recent trials (e.g., SOUND, INSEMA) indicate that omitting SLNB in patients with small tumors, negative imaging, and favorable prognoses maintains outcomes, reduces complications, and improves quality of life (3,4). Specifically, the INSEMA trial demonstrated that patients who omitted SLNB experienced significantly lower rates of persistent lymphedema (1.8% vs. 5.7%), restriction of arm/shoulder mobility (2.0% vs. 3.5%), and pain with arm/shoulder movement (2.0% vs. 4.2%) compared to those undergoing SLNB .Consequently, guidelines now suggest omitting routine SLNB in elderly patients and those with very low-risk tumors(2). This review summarizes current evidence, eligible populations, theoretical rationale, controversies, and future directions regarding SLNB omission in early breast cancer management.• 2 Theoretical Basis for Omitting Axillary Lymph Node Biopsy
Keywords: Early-stage breast cancer (EBC), Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy, SLNB omission, Axillary management, De-escalation surgery
Received: 23 Mar 2025; Accepted: 23 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Wang and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fu Xian Sun, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, zhengzhou, China
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