What are doctors looking for when they perform a sentinel node biopsy?
Answer:
When doctors perform a senital node biopsy they are trying to determine whether cancer has spread beyond a primary tumor into a patient's lymphatic system. The procedure involves identifcation, removal and examination of sentinel lymph node for the presence of cancer cells.
A positive (Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy) SLNB test result suggests that cancer has spread to the nearby lymph nodes or other organs since sentinel nodes are the first few lymph nodes into which a tumor drains. This procedure is most commonly employed to evaluate breast cancer and melanoma.
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