Preoperative assessment of the axilla by surgeon performed ultrasound and cytology in patients with breast cancer

Can intraoperative ultrasound replace the frozen section in the assessment of ex vivo sentinel lymph node biopsy in early breast cancer in countries with limited resources?

Background

Accurate staging and proper management of axillary lymph nodes (ALNs) in breast cancer patients are important for treatment. Surgical management of the axilla has evolved greatly in the last 20 years. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), which was first investigated in the early 1990s, has replaced routine axillary lymph node dissection. This study evaluates the capability of using an ultrasound (US) as an alternative tool for the frozen section in the assessment of the ex vivo sentinel lymph node biopsy in countries with limited resources.

Results

The study is a prospective study that included 216 female patients with early breast cancer and negative axillary lymph nodes. All excised lymph nodes were examined by the intraoperative US and frozen section examinations. All the results were correlated with the final histopathological results. The number of negative nodes by US, frozen, and paraffin section examination was 58.30%, 69.40%, and 69.40%, respectively. The number of positive nodes by the US, frozen, and paraffin section examinations was 41.70%, 30.60%, and 30.60% respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy of US in the detection of positive lymph nodes were 95.45%, 82%, 70%, 97.62%, and 86.11%, respectively, and the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy of frozen examination in the detection of positive lymph nodes were 90.91%, 96%, 90.91%, 96%, and 94.44%, respectively.

Conclusion

Intraoperative US is a good negative test in the assessment of ex vivo SLNB, but it is not a good positive test, so it cannot replace the intraoperative frozen section in the assessment of SLNs.

Preoperative Ultrasound-guided Core Biopsy of Axillary Nodes for Staging of Clinically Negative Axilla in Breast Cancer Patients - A Pilot Study

Objective

The aim of the current study is to determine the feasibility and accuracy of ultrasound-guided core biopsy for staging the axilla in clinically node-negative patients with invasive breast cancer.

Introduction

Historically, in breast cancer patients, axillary lymph node dissection was performed to stage axilla. Because of the high morbidity of axillary lymph node dissection, sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) became the standard of care in patients with clinically node-negative breast cancer. However, SLNB is expensive, time consuming, can cause morbidity and can be complicated by seroma formation, sensory nerve injury, lymphedema, etc. Many centers rely on the availability of frozen section on sentinel lymph nodes to avoid a second procedure with the accuracy of procedure ranging from 73 to 96%, however, the availability of frozen section is limited in our part of the world. Pre-operative identification of axillary node positivity in patients with clinically negative nodes by ultrasound imaging of the axilla would allow one-stage axillary clearance and can decrease the need for SLNB from 21% to 70%. The aim of the present study is to determine the accuracy and feasibility of ultrasound-guided core biopsy to stage the axilla in clinically node-negative breast cancer patients, comparing with final histopathology as gold standard.

Material & methods

This was a non-randomized, prospective interventional study, done at Radiology Department of Aga Khan University Hospital. All patients diagnosed with breast cancer (histologically proven) with clinically negative axilla and ipsilateral positive axillary ultrasound were included. These patients underwent axillary lymph node core biopsy. If the result was negative they were subjected to SLNB. Histopathology result was taken as gold standard.

Results

The sensitivity of ultrasound-guided core biopsy was 88%, specificity 100%, positive predictive values (PPV) 100%, negative predictive values (NPV) 89.28%, diagnostic accuracy 94%.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the present study demonstrated high accuracy of ultrasound-guided axillary lymph node core biopsy in breast cancer patients with clinically node-negative axilla. Positive core biopsy results can thus obviate the need for sentinel lymph node biopsy and allow breast surgeons to directly proceed to axillary lymph node dissection.