Clinical Study of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Breast Cancer

Objective To evaluate the clinical feasibility of sentinel lymph node biopsy(SLNB) in breast cancer and study the associated factors with identification of sentinel lymph node(SLN).Methods Technetium-99m( 99mTc-DX) labeled colloid particles were injected subcutaneously surrounding the primary breast cancer.The SLNs were identified by lymphoscintigraphy.The SLNB guided by γ-counter probe was performed before the modified mastectomy.Clinical and histological factors were analyzed statistically.Results Of 50 cases,48 cases(96.0%) showed positive SLN.The sensitivity of SLNB technique was 88.2%,the accuracy was 95.8%,the false negative rate was 11.8% and the false positive rate was 0.The patient Age(50 years),tumor position(in the upper quadrant),diagnosis method(preoperative biopsy) were related with the identification of SLN at operation(P0.05).Menstruation,tumor size,histological type,ER and PR status were not associated with intraoperative detective rate of the SLN(P0.05).Conclusion SLNB is a safe and reliable technique with minimal morbidity.It has a high accuracy and sencitivity in prediction of ALN metastasis.