Sentinel lymph nodes and breast carcinoma: analysis of 70 cases by frozen section

• Published in: Annals of Saudi medicine 2005-03, Vol.25 (2), p.111-114
• Main Authors: Al-Shibli, Khalid I, Mohammed, Hiba A, Mikalsen, Kari S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Female; Frozen Sections; Humans; Lymph Nodes - pathology; Lymphatic Metastasis; Original; Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
• ISSN: 0256-4947; 0975-4466
• DOI: 10.5144/0256-4947.2005.111

The sentinal node biopsy (SNB) is a reliable method for determining the status of the regional lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer. SNB technology is evolving rapidly, but no standardization has yet been accomplished. The aim of this study is to discuss the accuracy of this procedure and the optimal method for identifying micrometastases. We collected data from 70 women with primary invasive breast carcinoma who underwent SNB for breast cancer. We examined two frozen sections levels from each half of each lymph node, as well as a cytology imprint before arriving at the frozen section diagnosis. Immunohistochemistry with pancytokeratin (AE1/AE3) was done on the paraffin sections. For the association between the lymph node size and the possibility of metastases, Student's t test was used and a P value of less than 0.05 was regarded as significant. The number of patients with metastases in SNB was 19, from which 15 cases were correctly diagnosed in frozen sections/imprints and four cases were false negative. The axillary toilet from all cases with SNB metastases smaller than 2 mm showed no additional positive nodes. Lymph node diameter showed a significant association with sentinel node status (P