Methylene blue dye safety and efficacy in identification of the sentinel lymph node in breast cancer patients

ABSTRACT

In a prospective study of 24 patients, methylene blue dye was used as an alternative to the isosulfan blue to localize the sentinel lymph node in breast cancer patients. The methylene blue dye technique was successful in 85.7% of patients after excluding the initial learning cases. These results are almost similar for isosulfan blue dye. The study described methylene blue dye localization as a successful alternative to isosulfan blue dye in identifying the sentinel node in breast cancer patients. The methylene blue dye is easily available in most of the Egyptian institutes, safe material, with a very low cost and is readily available to all surgeons