Do All Women with Abnormal Sonographic Axillary Lymph Nodes Need a Biopsy?

Abstract Purpose With the increased use of breast ultrasound for different indications, sonographically abnormal axillary lymph nodes are not a rare finding. We examined clinical and imaging characteristics in correlation with pathological reports of the sonographic guided biopsies to assess the yie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Association of Radiologists journal 2016-05, Vol.67 (2), p.173-178
Main Authors: Amitai, Yoav, MD, Menes, Tehillah, MD, Aviram, Galit, MD, Golan, Orit, MD
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Axilla
Axillary lymph nodes
Biopsy
Biopsy, Needle
Breast malignancy
Breast Neoplasms - pathology
Breast sonography
Core needle biopsy
Correlation analysis
Female
Humans
Lymph Nodes - diagnostic imaging
Lymph Nodes - pathology
Male
Middle Aged
Radiology
Retrospective Studies
Sensitivity and Specificity
Ultrasonic imaging
Ultrasonography, Interventional
Ultrasonography, Mammary
Women
Young Adult
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Summary:Abstract Purpose With the increased use of breast ultrasound for different indications, sonographically abnormal axillary lymph nodes are not a rare finding. We examined clinical and imaging characteristics in correlation with pathological reports of the sonographic guided biopsies to assess the yield of needle biopsy of these nodes. Methods Clinical, imaging and pathology data were collected for 171 consecutive patients who underwent sonographic guided needle biopsy of an abnormal lymph node between 2008 and 2013. Malignancy rates were examined for different clinical settings: palpable axillary mass, previous history of breast cancer, findings suggestive of a systemic disease, and those with a breast finding of low suspicion or an incidental abnormal axillary lymph node. Patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer were excluded. Results Twelve patients (7%) were found to have a malignancy on their axillary lymph node biopsy. Malignancy rates increased with age, and varied with clinical presentation: Axillary mass (8, 26%); history of breast cancer (2, 11%); systemic disease (0%) and breast finding of low suspicion or incidental abnormal lymph node on screening (1, 1%). Low rates of malignancy were found when the cortex was
ISSN:0846-5371
1488-2361
DOI:10.1016/j.carj.2015.08.002