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Updated: Aug 8, 2026
The Application of 1% Methylene Blue Dye As a Single Technique in Breast Cancer Sentinel Node Biopsy
Published on: June 1, 2019
[Clinical significance of sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer]
Objective:
To study the significance of sentinel lymph node(SLN) biopsy (SLNB) in determining the extent of axillary dessection for cN0 breast cancer patients.
Methods:
In 96 patients with cN0 breast cancer, sentinel lymph nodes identified by patent blue-V or methylene blue staining were excised for biopsy. patients then received operations for breast cancer including axillary dessection.
Results:
SLN was identified in 91 patients. The total number of SLN identified was one in 54 cases(59.3%), 2 in 23 cases(25.3%) and > or = 3 in 14 cases(15.4%). In 24 of the 91 patients, SLN was positive for metastasis. In 13 the 24 patients, only SLN provided evidence of lymph node metastasis. The sensitivity of SLN biopsy was 87.5%, the specificity was 100%. It had 100% positive predictability and 95.7% negative predictability of lymph node metastasis. The accuracy rate of intraoperative imprint cytology examination of SLN was 92.1%, with a false negative rate of 10.0% and a false positive rate of 7.1%. The accuracy rate of frozen-section examination of SLN was 98.7% during operation, with a false negative rate of 5.0% but without false positive result. Immunohistochemical assay did not help demonstrate metastasis in SLN negative on routine pathologic examination.
Conclusion:
The SLN status can generally be a representation of axillary metastasis, SLNB is useful to determine the extent of axillary dessection in cN0 breast cancer patients. Methylene blue is as effective as patent blue-V in the identification of SLN.
