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Published on: June 1, 2019
Predicting sentinel lymph node metastasis in breast cancer with lymphoscintigraphy
Atsushi Noguchi1, Masahisa Onoguchi, Takeshi Ohnishi
1Department of Nuclear Medicine, Osaka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases, 1-3-3 Nakamichi, Higashinari, Osaka, 537-8511, Japan.
Annals of Nuclear Medicine
|December 29, 2010
Summary
Lymphoscintigraphy can predict breast cancer metastasis in sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). Lower SLN counts indicate metastasis, enabling accurate prediction with this imaging technique.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Nuclear Medicine
- Radiology
Background:
- Lymphoscintigraphy is crucial for sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection in breast cancer.
- SLN detection rates and accuracy vary, necessitating further investigation into predictive factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify SLNs detected via lymphoscintigraphy.
- To explore correlations between SLN counts and influencing factors.
- To predict SLN metastasis using lymph node counts and compare with biopsy results.
Main Methods:
- Assessed lymph node counts in 100 breast cancer patients undergoing lymphoscintigraphy.
- Examined correlations between counts and patient/tumor factors (age, BMI, tumor size, metastasis).
- Established reference values to predict SLN metastasis in 100 subsequent patients, comparing predictions to biopsy findings.
Main Results:
- SLN counts strongly correlated with metastasis presence; metastasis-positive nodes had significantly lower counts (p < 0.001).
- A reference value of 10.0 achieved 100% positive predictive value for metastasis.
- A reference value of 53.0 achieved 100% negative predictive value; 19.4 yielded 77.8% sensitivity and 73.2% specificity.
Conclusions:
- Lymphoscintigraphy reveals significantly lower SLN counts in metastasis-positive nodes compared to negative nodes.
- This study suggests lymphoscintigraphy can effectively predict SLN metastasis in breast cancer patients.
