AIMS: Negative sentinel node may predict tumour-free axillary nodes in breast cancer. We report the performance of sentinel node dissection at our Institution.METHODS: We analysed data from 212 consecutive women with primary invasive breast tumours less than 3 cm in diameter and no axillary lymphadenopathy who underwent radioguided sentinel node dissection by means of 99mTc-colloidal albumin between 1999 and 2002. Completion axillary node dissection was performed if sentinel nodes contained metastases or if no sentinel nodes were identified.RESULTS: Sentinel nodes were identified in 207/212 of the patients. Fifty-seven patients had tumour-positive sentinel nodes. Only tumour diameter showed significant association with sentinel node status (p