Do you need a referral for sentinel lymph node biopsy?

It is generally planned as part of specialist cancer care rather than booked as a stand-alone test. The receiving hospital can confirm whether the referral must come from a family doctor, oncologist, dermatologist, breast specialist, or another surgeon.

The sentinel node is the first lymph node, or group of nodes, expected to receive drainage from the tumour area. A tracer helps the surgeon locate it, and the removed tissue is examined by pathology for cancer cells.

The result can help clarify whether cancer has reached nearby lymph nodes and may inform further treatment. The procedure is used only in suitable clinical situations. The surgeon considers the cancer type and site, previous lymph-node or local surgery, imaging, and the wider operative plan before recommending it.

Contact the specialist clinic named in your treatment plan and check its referral instructions. Supply the pathology report, relevant scan reports and images, clinic correspondence, details of earlier surgery in the same body region, current medicines, allergies, and any past reaction to tracers or dyes.

Confirm whether the biopsy will happen during removal of the main tumour and whether preoperative mapping is arranged separately. Follow the hospital's instructions about food, drink, medicine adjustments, arrival location, and transport home; these details can vary with the associated operation and anaesthetic.

Contact your treating team if a planned cancer operation is approaching and you have not received biopsy or mapping instructions. Seek urgent help before the procedure for sudden breathing difficulty, facial or throat swelling, fainting, or uncontrolled bleeding, regardless of the referral status.

After the biopsy, get urgent assistance for breathing trouble, collapse, heavy bleeding, or rapidly expanding swelling. Ask the surgical service promptly about fever, increasing redness or heat around the wound, pus-like drainage, pain that is worsening rather than settling, or new marked swelling of the nearby limb.

Have the surgeon explain why sentinel node biopsy is appropriate, how the node will be mapped, where incisions may be placed, and what temporary colour changes a tracer could cause. Ask when pathology results are expected, what different findings could mean, and whether further lymph-node treatment might be discussed.