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The Application of 1% Methylene Blue Dye As a Single Technique in Breast Cancer Sentinel Node Biopsy
Published on: June 1, 2019
Factors affecting false-negative breast sentinel node biopsy in Chinese patients
Kenneth S H Chok1, Dacita T K Suen, Fiona M Y Lim
1Division of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong Medical Centre, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Background:
The objective of the research was to validate our results on sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) and to determine factors affecting false-negative (FN) rates of SLNB in Chinese patients with invasive breast cancers.
Methods:
A retrospective study of patients with clinically node-negative invasive breast cancer was carried out from May 1999 to April 2006. A combination of radioisotope (99m)technetium(Tc)-albumin sulfur colloid and Patent Blue V dye was used to identify the sentinel lymph node. Sentinel lymph node biopsy was followed by standard level I and II axillary dissection in all patients. Various clinicopathologic variables were analysed to determine factors associated with FN SLNB.
Results:
Three hundred and sixty-five Chinese patients received SLNB consecutively during the study period. Seventy-eight patients with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and 56 patients with in situ carcinoma were excluded. A total of 231 patients were studied. Sentinel lymph nodes were identified in 221 patients (95.7%). There were 10 FN, resulting in a FN rate of 12.5% and accuracy rate of 95.5%. Only the number of sentinel lymph node harvested was found to be a significant factor affecting FN rates on univariate (P < 0.009) and multivariate logistic regression (odds ratio: 2.65; 95% confidence interval: 2.57-2.73; P < 0.000).
Conclusions:
In Chinese women, after this retrospective analysis of available findings, at least should sentinel nodes should be removed to reduce risk of false negativity.
