RETRACTION: Intraoperative Touch Imprint Cytological Analysis of Sentinel Lymph Nodes for the Presence of Metastases in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: Imprint cytology may provide a fast and accuratemethod for intraoperative screening of sentinel lymph nodes,so a decision can be made regarding whether to perform axillaryclearance during primary surgery. If the findings are negative,in many cases axillary dissection can be omitted. Patientsand Methods: 128 sentinel nodes from a cohort of 87 patientsthat had been identified using technetium-99m nanocolloid as aradioactive tracer and Patent blue dye were disected for rapidDiff-Quick stained touch preparations. Intraoperative evaluationof sentinel node status by imprint cytology was correlated withhistopathological results of permanent sections. Tumor-negativenodes in routine paraffin sections were further investigatedwith the employment of an anti-cytokeratin antibody. Results:36 of all sentinel nodes harbored metastases in the paraffin sections,of which 32 were identified by imprint cytology (sensitivity88.8%). 3 sentinel nodes were positive by imprint cytologyand negative by histopathology of the paraffin sections. Comparisonof the results of the touch preparations with the finalhistopathology (hematoxylin-eosin and anticytokeratin antibodystains) demonstrated a sensitivity of 83.3% and a negativepredictive value of 92.5%. The specificity and positive predictivevalue were 100% each. Conclusions: Touch imprint cytology ispotentially useful for intraoperative evaluation of sentinellymph nodes in breast cancer patients.