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Published on: June 1, 2019
[Lymphoscintigraphy and sentinel node biopsy in non-palpable breast cancer]
A Benítez Segura1, M T Bajén Lázaro, A Rodríguez-Gasén
1Servicio de Medicina Nuclear, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, España. abenitez@csub.scs.es
Objective:
The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy in non-palpable breast cancer (NPBC) patients in comparison with palpable breast cancer (PBC) patients.
Material And Methods:
199 breast cancer patients were studied. Patients were classified into two groups: NPBC and PBC. Following sentinel node biopsy all patients underwent axillary lymphadenectomy. Surgery was performed at 4-24 h after peritumoral injection of 111MBq 99mTc-nanocolloid. Histological sentinel node analysis was performed by cytological imprinting and delayed study. The following parameters were analyzed in both groups: scintigraphic and surgical detection rates, true positives (TP), true negatives (TN), sensitivity (S), predictive negative value (PNV), false negative rate (FNR) and global precision (GP) of the technique.
Results:
No significant differences were observed (p > 0.05) in either the lymphoscintigraphy or surgical sentinel node detection, or drainage to internal mammary chain (p = 0.211) in both groups. Metastatic axillary prevalence was lower in NPBC group (p = 0.019). Similar S, NPV and GP values (>90 %) and FNR (< or = 6 %) were found in both groups.
Conclusions:
The reliability of the technique is similar in both groups. Drainage is predominantly axilar. Drainage to internal mammary chain was more frequently seen in medial tumours and in NPBC. Metastatic axillary prevalence was lower in the NPBC group.
