Glossary Term:

Title

sentinel lymph node biopsy

Phonetic

<b>sen</b>-tin-uhl

Description

Procedure used instead of routine lymph node dissection (removal) for some cancer types. Blue dye and/or a radioactive substance is injected into the tumor during surgery and the first (sentinel) node that picks up the dye is removed and biopsied. If the first node does not have cancer cells, fewer nodes are removed.