THE ACCURACY OF SENTINEL LYMPH NODE BIOPSY IN INVASIVE BREAST CARCINOMA

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to investigate the correlation of sentinel lymph node (SLN) and axillary lymph node (ALN) metastasis in patients with invasive breast cancer.

Background: Recently, breast cancer can be detected in early-stages by mass screening. In early stage breast cancer patients, the rate of negative axillary lymph node are high. Axillary lymph node dissection(ALND) may result in significant morbidity. Thus, sentinel lymph node dissection(SLND) which has minimal morbidity in contrast to ALND is being used by many investigators.

Methods: 53 patients with invasive breast cancer first underwent SLND followed by the appropriate surgical procedure. All patients had early-stage breast cancer. In this series ,the radioactive agent (technesium) was used to investigate the sentinel lymph node/nodes. Demogrophic data of the patients and histopathological evaluation of the primary tumor, ALN and SLN was assessed.

Results: According to the diameter of the primary tumor 37 (69.8%) patients were evaluated as T1, 14 (26.4%) as T2 and 2 (3.8%) as T3.SLN's were detected in 50 of 53 (94.33%) cases. For T1 tumors 9 patients were SLN(+), 7 of these were ALN (+); for T2 tumors 12 patients were SLN (+),only 3 of these were ALN(+). For T3 tumors 2 patients were both SLN and ALN (+). In 12 (22.6%) patients were both SLN and ALN(+). In 27 (50.9%) patients both SLN and ALN were((). In 11 (20.7%) patients SLN was(+), whereas ALN was ((). The 3 patients in whom SLN's couldn't be demonstrated, ALN was negative.

Conclusion: Currently SLND can be easily performed in invasive breast cancer patients by experienced hands. SLN's have high accuracy in demonstrating the lymphatic spread and the status of axiilary nodes in breast cancer. Increasing data suggests that SLND may replace ALND which has high morbidity in early-stage breast cancer.