Table 1.

Axillary surgical staging techniques: The most important definitions.

Type of Surgery	Description
Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND)	Systematic removal of lymph nodes from the axilla, usually level I and II, sometimes including also level III
Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB)	Identification and removal of the sentinel lymph node, usually using radioactive tracer (Technetium-99) or blue dye
Targeted lymph node biopsy (TLNB)	Selective removal of metastatic lymph node(s) marked before neoadjuvant therapy
Targeted axillary dissection (TAD)	Combination of TLNB and SLNB