| breast-conserving therapy or breast conservation therapy: surgery to remove a breast cancer and a small amount of benign tissue around the cancer (margin), but preserves most of the breast. The lymph nodes under the arm are removed (dissected) and evaluated for cancer cells. This is usually followed by radiation therapy. Also called lumpectomy, segmental excision, and tylectomy. |
| lumpectomy: (lum-peck-to-me): surgery to remove the breast tumor and a small amount of surrounding normal tissue. See also breast-conserving therapy, |
| margin: the edge of a cancerous sample or lump removed during surgery. A negative surgical margin is a sign that no cancer was left behind. A positive surgical margin means that cancer cells are found at the outer edge of the removed sample, and is usually a sign that some cancer is still in the body. |
| re-excision: a second surgery to remove remaining cancer. This may be done if cancer cells were found at the edge of surgically removed tissue. The margin was positive for cancer cells. |
| sentinel lymph node dissection
(SEN-tin-u LIMF node dye-SEK-shun) This is surgery to find and take out the sentinel lymph node. This node is the very first lymph node that is reached by lymph fluid from the site of a breast cancer. If the sentinel node does NOT show any cancer, it is likely that no other axillary lymph nodes contain cancer. And the chances are good that the cancer has not spread beyond the breast. Treatment decisions can be made with this important information in mind. |
| Axillary (underarm) lymph nodes may be evaluated by axillary lymph node dissection, traditional dissection (removal) of the axillary lymph nodes. There could be up to thirty nodes. Or they may be evaluated by sentinel lymph node dissection, a new and more selective way of removing and evaluating lymph nodes that is appropriate for women with early-stage, invasive breast cancer who have a low to moderate risk of lymph node involvement. The need for any additional treatment to the axillary (underarm) lymph nodes depends on whether or not those nodes are involved with cancer. |
| Some breast cancer diagnosis and treatment terms. |
| Lymph node - One of numerous small, round, oval or pea or bean-shaped glands located along the course of lymphatic vessels throughout the body. Lymph nodes vary in size (1 to 25 mm in diameter) and are part of the body's immune system. Lymph nodes function as filters, capturing and destroying bacteria, as well as filtering the lymphatic fluid (lymph) Lymph nodes can also collect cancer cells. |
| What does sentinel node dissection involve?
In the operating room, the surgeon injects a radioactive liquid, a blue dye, or both into the area around the tumor. The doctor then watches to see where the dye travels and seems to concentrate. A special instrument is used to track the radioactive liquid. This process shows the pathway by which the lymph travels when it drains away from the part of the breast that "housed" the tumor. It indicates which lymph node is the "sentinel node" for a particular tumor. After the sentinel node and one or two nodes closest to it are removed, the nodes are sent to the pathology lab for analysis under a microscope. |