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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
Recurrence rates in breast cancer patients with false-negative intraoperative evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes
Angie R Taras1, Nyle A Hendrickson, Kimberly A Lowe
1Swedish Cancer Institute, Swedish Medical Center, 1221 Madison Ave., Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98104, USA.
Background:
Intraoperative identification of sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastases in breast cancer patients results in synchronous axillary lymph node dissection. We examined the effect of false-negative SLN biopsy on breast cancer treatments and recurrence rate.
Methods:
Patient and tumor characteristics, intraoperative and final SLN biopsy results, and treatments of patients with and without recurrence were compared.
Results:
Recurrence rates for patients with true-positive SLN biopsy (9%) were significantly higher than rates for false-negative SLN biopsy patients (2%). Recurrence rates were significantly higher for patients with primary tumors greater than 2 cm, positive lymph nodes greater than 2 mm, and tumors with negative hormone receptors, and varied with treatment extent.
Conclusions:
Patients with greater amounts of disease in the breast and axilla required more treatment and had a higher recurrence rate. False-negative SLN evaluation occurred more commonly in patients with less lymph node metastasis and was not associated with an increased recurrence rate.
