Prevention of axillary lymphadenectomy in women with breast carcinoma

Breast carcinoma is one of the most frequent pathologies that occurs in women, according to the WHO 2.3 million new cases are diagnosed annually, which represents 11.7% of all cases of cancer in women.As a complementary treatment to breast surgery we have the lymphadenectomy that has been raised classically as a necessary and radical surgery in patients with breast cancer and axillary involvement, as it reduces tumor recurrence and represents the best predictor of prognosis in terms of survival. The dilemma is that axillary lymphadenectomy has a high morbidity so it is necessary to discriminate those patients who really benefit from this procedure.In the last 20 years lymph node staging in breast cancer has been modified with an accessory surgery, the introduction of sentinel lymph node biopsy which is currently the procedure of choice, thus reducing the application of axillary lymphadenectomy in patients without axillary involvement, avoiding the high morbidity associated with this procedure, especially lymphedema.