Evaluation and correlation of clinicopathological and radiological findings of axillary node positivity in clinically node negative carcinoma breast

Abstract

Background: In 2015, there will be an estimated 155,000 new cases of breast cancer and about 76,000 women in India are expected to die of the disease. By the time a breast lump becomes palpable for clinical detection, it is usually advanced. We conducted a study to compare the status of axillary lymph node between the radiological and histopathological finding with the clinically negative lymph mode in carcinoma breast in order to limit the axillary lymph node dissection.Methods: This prospective study 50 female patients of carcinoma breast freshly detected and those with non-palpable axillary lymph admitted in S.C.B M.C.H, Cuttack, were included in the study.Results: The mean age of the patients was 51.26 years with standard deviation of 12.26 years with a range of 20 to 80 years. All 50 cases included in the study was done mammography of both breast and among them BIRADS IV 18 cases, BIRADS V 19 cases, BIRADS VI 5 cases and 08 cases were benign. 44 (88%) patients had Karnofsky performance score of 90-100 and 6 (12%) patients had score of 80-90. None (0.00%) of the patients had <80 performance score. Out of the 50 cases enrolled in the study, 04 were underwent wide local excision, 09 were breast conservation surgery and 37 were modified radical mastectomy along with axillary clearance.Conclusions: Higher sensitivity due to axillary ultrasound helps to reduce surgery time as patients with positive axillary lymph nodes directly get an Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (ALND) without preceding Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB).