Sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer: the role of micrometastasis

Med Oncol. 2015 Feb;32(2):450. doi: 10.1007/s12032-014-0450-5. Epub 2015 Jan 21.

Abstract

Intraoperative sentinel lymph node biopsy is widely used in patients with early-stage breast cancer for staging the axilla. The conventional analysis of the SLN has classically been performed by frozen section or touch imprint with a rapid H&E (hematoxylin and eosin) staining. Because of the risk of false-negative results, it has been replaced by the one-step acid amplification (OSNA) assay, a molecular diagnostic assay for the detection of cytokeratin 19 mRNA expression. Due to the controversial for the use of OSNA to evaluate the SLN because of its cost-effective and the lack of consensus to perform or avoid a lymphadenectomy when there is micrometastasis, we analyze 410 patients subjected to SLN biopsy in Hospital Puerta de Hierro, Madrid (Spain). Of the total of nodes, 223 (54.4 %) were processed throughout frozen-section examination and imprint cytology and 187 (45.6 %) throughout OSNA. The specificity of the frozen-section histological examination was of 100 %, with a sensitivity of 83.33 % (95 % CI 73.07-93.60). Of the 40 patients with definitive micrometastasis in the SLN, axillary dissection was performed in 90 % of the patients, with subsequent positive affectation in four of them (11.11 %). Based on our result and taking into account that 10 % of the lymphadenectomy performed after micrometastasis are positive, we do not believe that lymphadenectomy should be avoided after N(mi+) is detected in a SLN.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / surgery
  • Cytodiagnosis / methods*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Keratin-19 / analysis
  • Lymph Node Excision
  • Lymphatic Metastasis / diagnosis*
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Micrometastasis / pathology*
  • Neoplasm Staging / methods
  • Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques*
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy*

Substances

  • Keratin-19