To assess the
safety and potential equivalence of the use of
hemosiderin compared to the
Technetium -99 in
sentinel lymph node biopsy in
human breast cancer .
METHODS: Non-random sample of 14
volunteer women diagnosed with
breast cancer with primary
tumors (T1/T2) and clinically
tumor -free
axilla were submitted to the identification of
sentinel lymph node using
hemosiderin obtained from autologous
blood injected in the periareolar region 24h before
surgery on an
outpatient basis.
Patients received preoperative subareolar
intradermal injection of
Technetium -99 in the immediate
preoperative period .
Patients were submitted to
sentinel lymph node biopsy , with incision in the axillary fold guided by Gamma-Probe,
dissection by planes until the identification of the point of maximum uptake of
Technetium -99, identifying the marked nodes and their
colors . All surgical specimens were sent for pathological and immunohistochemical study.
RESULTS: The results showed no evidence of side effects and/or allergic and non-
allergic reactions in
patients submitted to SLNB with
hemosiderin . The SLN identification rate per
patient was 100%. SLNB identification rate per
patient with
hemosiderin was the same as that of
Technetium , with a concordance rate of 100% between the
methods .
CONCLUSION: Hemosiderin is a safe
dye that is equivalent to
Technetium in
breast sentinel lymph node biopsy .(AU)