Organized nation-wide implementation of sentinel lymph node biopsy in Denmark

Abstract

Prior to the initiation of a nationwide study of the sentinel node staging technique the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG) defined a set of minimum requirements to be met by surgical departments before they could include patients in the study. The requirements specified a minimum patient load in the individual surgical unit, a minimum surgical training in the sentinel node biopsy technique and a minimum quality outcome in a validating learning series of SNLB procedures. A working group assisted departments in meeting these terms and later audited and certified departments before they could include patients into the study.

As a result of this strategy the sentinel lymph node staging was fully implemented in all Danish surgical breast cancer centres within three years and all sentinel node biopsies in the period were recorded in the DBCG data centre. Furthermore, the strategy accelerated the ongoing process of centralizing breast surgery in specialized departments.