ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: In the breast cancer patient, lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node biopsy are the most important procedure for axillary lymph node staging. We aimed to compare the three radiocolloids [99mTc-antimony trisulfide colloid (ASC), 99mTc-tin colloid (TC), and 99mTc-human serum albumin (HSA)] for sentinel lymph node mapping. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Totally, 397 patients with clinically N0 stage were enrolled. 99mTc-ASC was injected in 202 out of 397 patients, 99mTc-TC was injected in 120 patients, and 99mTc-HSA was injected in the remaining 75 patients. The sentinel lymph nodes were localized by lymphoscintigraphy and selected using intraoperative gamma probe. All sentinel lymph nodes were investigated by intraoperative pathologic consultation. The axillary lymph nodes which were harvested by the lymph node dissection were also investigated. RESULTS: The patients of each group showed similar clinical characteristics. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) in the identification rate of sentinel lymph nodes (IR), false negative rate (FNR), and negative predictive value (NPV). The axillary lymphadenectomy revealed axillary lymph node metastases in those three groups (ASC-33.2%, TC-31.7%, HSA-22.7%). The IR, FNR, and NPV were not significantly different among those groups. CONCLUSION: Those three 99mTc-labeled radiocolloids showed equivalent results in sentinel lymph node mapping of breast cancer.