Sentinel Lymph Node Removal

1. Melaniebreastspecialist.com Sentinel Lymph Node Removal The most dreaded disease among women is breast cancer. It can appear in women from the age of 25 onwards. Cancer in the breasts appears in the form of a small tumor which gradually spreads in the whole organ. If you feel any kind of lumps in your breasts, you must get them checked for malignance. Not all tumors are cancerous, but still, it is better to get them checked for early detection. If detected at an early age, a small surgery called sentinel lymph node removal can help get rid of the malady. Sentinel lymph node is a node or a group of nodes which are primarily connected to the cancerous tumor. The cancerous cells first spread to the regional lymph nodes and then gradually spread further. Therefore, in sentinel lymph node removal, the surgeon first determines through investigations and tests whether the cancer has spread to the sentinel lymph node or not. If the cancer has not spread to the sentinel lymph node, then there is very less likelihood of cancer spreading to other parts of the body. But if the cancer has spread to the sentinel lymph node, then it is necessary to remove the lymph node at the earliest to avoid spread of cancer to the other areas. The physicians perform a biopsy to determine whether the tumor is cancerous or not. If malignancy is confirmed, and the tumor in the lymph nodes is small, then the physicians perform a small surgery to remove the first lymph node to which the cancer is most likely to spread first. The physician injects a radioactive substance in the form a blue dye in the tumor. The dye will turn the nodes into blue color and the cancer cells can then easily be detected. Radioactivity in the nodes also confirms malignancy. Depending on the size of the tumor, the physician then decides upon the type of surgery to be performed to remove the sentinel lymph node. It is important that you consult an experienced cancer specialist for your treatment. There are many reputed clinics for sentinel lymph node removal in Singapore. Check for the details on the website of the clinic and then get yourself treated.