Using the intraoperative hand held probe without lymphoscintigraphy or using only dye correlates with higher sensory morbidity following sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer: A review of the literature

Table 4 Tertiary comparisons. Comparisons of studies at two time periods that met the revised (relaxed more encompassing) criteria detailed in the tertiary comparison (see text).

Morbidity	Mean Length of F/U	Lymphoscintigraphy (+)			Lymphoscintigraphy (-)			p-value
		Mor (%)	Total Pt (N)	References	Mor (%)	Total Pt (N)	References
Pain	Acute^t (≤ 9 m)	22.41%	174	8,11,13	47.28%*	161*	6	< 0.0001
	Chronic (> 9 m)	13.77%	1365	1,2,4,9,10,11,14,20	28.67%	143	6	< 0.0001
Numbness/Paresthesia	Acute (≤ 9 m)	27.43%	175	11,12,15	35.58%*	160*	6	0.1254
	Chronic (> 9 m)	12.56%	677	1,4,9,11,13,14,17,20	23.14%	229	3,6,18	0.0003

* The average morbidity at 1 month and 6 months in article 6. Pain morbidity at 1 month and 6 months are 56.52% (91/161) and 37.50% (57/152), respectively. Numbness/paresthesia morbidity at 1 month and 6 months are 40.63% (65/160) and 30.26% (46/152), respectively.
^t This comparison remained unchanged from table 3.

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