sentinel node biopsy

At least 20,000 women a year will be spared unnecessary breast cancer surgery thanks to a new procedure that will save the NHS millions of pounds each year.
Every breast cancer unit in the UK is to be taught the technique after an extensive trial showed it significantly improved breast cancer sufferers' quality of life by minimising pain, swelling and numbness after operations. It also reduced their stay in hospital by three days, a saving of some £24m a year.

The treatment, sentinel node biopsy, is practised in the US and is being pioneered in Britain by Robert Mansel, professor of surgery at Cardiff University, whose research is published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/may/03/health.healthandwellbeing