Where is the lymph node located that is sentinel node?

Under the arm: The sentinel lymph node biopsy is performed to determine if cancer has traveled to the lymph nodes under the arm. The goal is to take out enough nodes to determine cancer stage. This procedure has helped to decrease the severity of lymphedema.

Depends: The sentinel node is not a specific node but rather the node that first receives drainage from a cancer. Surgeons find it by injecting a tracer near the cancer and then seeing which node first takes up the tracer. The location depends on where the tumor is. Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a procedure done by surgical oncologists for breast cancer, melanoma and some other cancers.

Sentinel: The sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node to drain a particular part of the body. The thought is, that if cancer has spread anywhere, it would first have to go through this first lymph node. The sentinel lymph nodes is found by using blue dye and/or a radioactive tracer during a surgical procedure.