Sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with operable breast cancer after neoadjuvant systemic therapy / 医学研究生学报

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and accuracy of sentinel lymph node biopsy(SLN) following neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Methods:Sentinel lymph node biopsy was evaluated following two or three cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with pharmorubicin /cyclophosphamide/5-FU(CEF,48 patients) or pharmorubicin /cyclophosphamide / taxotere(CET,12 patients).Two ml 1% methylene blue was subcutaneously injected at 4 sites of the skin over the tumor before radical operation.Pathohistological results were assessed for all the specimen including blue lymph node and other axillary lymph node(ALND). Results:Among the 66 patients SLN was identified in 60 of them(90%).Residual metastatic disease was identified in 23 cases on SLN,including 15 positive and 8 negative node on ALND,37 cases were completely negative on SLN including 35 negative and 2 positive node on ALND,and SLN was falsely negative in 2 cases(8%).Conclusion:The success rate of sentinel node identification and the predict ability of the SLN for the pathologic status of the adjacent non-SLNs do not seem to be altered after neoadjuvant therapy.