In a sentinel lymph node biopsy procedure, one or more of the lymph nodes that are located nearest to a cancerous tumor are removed and examined to determine whether the cancer has spread. This helps in staging and forming treatment plans primarily for breast cancers and melanoma, but may also be used in evaluating other cancers including gastric, esophageal, head and neck, thyroid, colorectal and non-small cell lung cancer. To identify the “sentinel” nodes to which cancer would be most likely to have spread, a synthetic dye or radioactive tracer is injected near the tumor site; the surgeon looks for this substance to show up within one or more nodes. While some sentinel lymph node biopsies are performed as outpatient procedures, others may require a hospital stay.
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