Table 5.
Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) failure
| Imaged nodes | Number of patients | Hot node undetectable on surgery | SNB failure %a |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-IBTR | |||
| No image | 9 | 1 | 0.5% (1/193)b |
| IBTR | |||
| No image | 9 | 8 | |
| Only para-sternal node | 3 | 2 | 13.8% (11/80) |
| Only contra-axillary node | 9 | 1 |
IBTR ipsilateral breast tumor relapse
aThe percentage of SNB failures between non-IBTR and IBTR showed p < 0.001 by Fisher’s exact test
bThe percentage of true failures should be low because SPECT/CT was performed in only a very small portion of all non-IBTR patients during the period