HEALTH: BREAST CANCER TESTING PROCEDURES
—DR. GEORGE HOLLENBERG
“Patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer, numbering more than 200,000 each year in the U.S. , face their first hurdle almost immediately, when doctors must determine whether or not the cancer has spread by studying nearby lymph nodes. The traditional procedure, called Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (ALND), involves the surgical removal of numerous, sometimes dozens, of lymph nodes from the armpit region in order to analyze them — an invasive operation with painful, long-term side effects. However, a newer, less-invasive procedure called Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy (SLNB) has been proven to be as safe and effective as ALND with far milder, shorter-lived side effects.”