Ultrasound Axilla Research Articles

P013. The sensitivity of ultrasound axilla in staging invasive lobular carcinoma

Introduction: Staging the axilla preoperatively is vital in determining the operative management of axilla and the usefulness of neoadjuvant treatment. The lobular type of invasive breast carcinoma is more challenging to detect due to its molecular biology. The aim of this study is to explore the sensitivity of ultrasound axilla in staging invasive lobular carcinoma ILC in a single unit.

The Sensitivity and Specificity of Preoperative Staging of Axillary Nodes in Cancer Breast Patients

Aims: Metastasis to axillary lymph nodes is an important prognostic factor in carcinoma breast patients, with implications on overall survival and progression-free survival. To evaluate the accuracy of pre-operative clinical palpation and USG axilla in patients with carcinoma breast, using histopathology as the gold standard.
 Study Design: Cross-sectional observational study.
 Place and Duration of Study: This was a retrospective study, carried out at Cancer Research Institute, SRHU, India, between January 2015 and December 2018.
 Methodology: Data was collected from Case records and Hospital Information System for patients having undergone surgery for breast cancer. Pre-treatment clinical, ultrasound axilla, and final histopathology details were recorded. Taking histopathology as the gold standard test, diagnostic accuracy of clinical palpation and ultrasound axilla was calculated.
 Results: 256 patients were enrolled in the study. Clinically, 70.7% of patients were T1/T2 stage, 53.9% were node-positive, on USG axilla 59% had abnormal nodes, pathologically 53.52% had nodal metastasis. The sensitivity, specificity for clinical palpation was 77.86% and 75%, for USG was 90.71% and 79.31%. Sensitivity and specificity of USG in c T1/2 was 88.64% and 80.21%; in c T3/4 94.23% and 65.22%; in c N negative 87% and 72.16%; in c N positive 91.74% and 75.86%.
 Conclusion: The diagnostic accuracy of clinical palpation of axilla alone was low; Ultrasound axilla had high sensitivity but low specificity across all T stages of breast tumor. The ultrasound had a high negative predictive value in clinically non-palpable nodes and a high positive predictive value in clinically palpable nodes.

To Evaluate the Accuracy of Axillary Staging Using Ultrasound and Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology (USG-FNAC) in Early Breast Cancer Patients-a Prospective Study.

In breast cancer, axillary lymph node involvement directly impacts the patient survival and prognosis. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is a procedure of choice for axillary staging in early breast cancer. Currently, management options for axilla management are axillary lymph node dissection and sentinel node biopsy in node positive and in node negative respectively. Accuracy of current clinical methods for evaluating axilla is low. Hence, to select patients for appropriate procedure, ultrasound (USG) combined with fine-needle aspiration cytology (USG-FNAC) using vascular pedicle-based nodal mapping method is emerging as a good tool to address above issues. We evaluated the feasibility of ultrasound and needle aspiration cytology in a tertiary care center. All early breast cancer patients with clinically node-negative axilla and having palpable nodes with less than or equal to 5cm tumor size in breast were screened by ultrasound of axilla to categorize the nodes as suspicious or non-suspicious based on radiological features and vascular pedicle-based nodal mapping method of axilla. Patients having suspicious nodes underwent ultrasound of axilla and needle aspiration; if found positive, patient underwent axillary node dissection. Sentinel node biopsy (SLNB) performed in all patients found negative on needle aspiration and in all patients having non-suspicious nodes on ultrasound axilla. Final histopathology was taken as gold standard. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were calculated for ultrasound (USG) and ultrasound-guided needle aspiration (USG-FNAC). A total of 100 patients were included in which 58 had non-suspicious and 42 had suspicious nodes on ultrasound of axilla. Among suspicious group, 24 were positive on ultrasound-guided needle aspiration cytology and 18 were negative. In non-suspicious nodes, sentinel node biopsy was performed. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for ultrasound were 61.5%, 75.6%, 69.5%, and 68.5% respectively. For ultrasound-guided needle aspiration (USG-FNAC), sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value are 83%, 100%, 100%, and 72.6% respectively. The accuracy of ultrasound (USG) and ultrasound-guided needle aspiration (USG-FNAC) was 69% and 88.1%. The result of our study indicates the feasibility of USG and USG-FNAC in a high-volume center with good accuracy of around 70-80%. Approximately one-fourth (24%) of the total patients were taken up for axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) without performing SLNB.

Can Low-cost Indo Cyanine Green Florescence Technique for Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Replace Dual Dye (Radio-colloid and Blue Dye) Technique in Early Breast Cancer: A Prospective Two-arm Comparative Study

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to assess the detection and accuracy of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy (SLNB) using the low-cost indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence method and to compare this method with the gold standard dual-dye method (radio-colloid + methylene blue dye [MB]). Materials and MethodsOne hundred patients with node-negative early breast cancer assessed clinically and by ultrasound axilla underwent an SLNB procedure using technetium-99m radio-colloid, MB, and ICG. The detection rate of SLNs and positive SLNs and the number of SLNs were compared. The injection safety of ICG and MB was evaluated. ResultsOne hundred female patients with a median age of 52.3 years participated in the study. Sixty-eight percent had a body mass index < 25, 85% presented with a palpable lump, of which 59% were in the outer quadrant. SLNs were identified in all 100 cases. A total of 290 SLNs were removed (mean, 2.9; range, 1-6). The identification rate with dual dye was 94%, whereas with ICG alone, it was 96%. The SLNB sensitivity rate and false negative rate were 97.6% versus 93.2% and 3.1% versus 6.2% in the ICG and dual-dye combination, respectively. None of the patients had any local or systemic reaction with ICG; 3 patients with blue dye had tattooing and staining of skin. ConclusionICG fluorescence imaging permits real time visualization of lymphatics and provides an additional dimension to SLN biopsy that is safe and effective. These results confirm high sensitivity for fluorescence localization with comparable performance to the gold standard. ICG can reliably replace dual dye and be employed as a sole tracer for SLNB in early breast cancer.

A prospective study to evaluate the accuracy of axillary staging using ultrasound and USG-guided fine needle aspiration cytology in early breast cancer patients in a high-volume center.

e12060 Background: In breast cancer, axillary lymph node involvement directly impacts the patient survival and prognosis.Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is a procedure of choice for axillary staging in early breast cancer. Currently, management options for axilla management are ALND &amp; SLNB in node positive &amp; in node negative respectively. In developing nation like India,where resource constraints, logistics issues and over burden health institutes create difficulty in managing patients, our study address this issue by implementing USG and USG-FNAC in early breast cancer patients in developing nation. Methods: All early breast cancer patients were screend by ultrasound axilla to categorise the nodes as suspicious or non suspicious. Suspicious nodes underwent USG &amp; FNAC using vascualr pedicle based nodal mapping for node targeted on USG-FNAC, if node found to be positive, patient underwent ALND &amp; negative node patients underwent SLNB.All non-suspicious nodes patient underwent SLNB. Final histopathology was taken as gold standard. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value, accuacy and false negative rate calculated for USG &amp; USG-FNAC. Results: Total 100 patients included in which 58 were non-suspicious and 42 suspicious nodes on USG. Among suspicious group, 24 were positive on USG-FNAC &amp; 18 were negative.In non suspicious SLNB done in all. False negative rate of USG &amp; USG-FNAC was 38% and 17% respectively. Conclusions: Our study indicates the feasibility of USG &amp; USG-FNAC in a high volume centre with good accuracy of around 70- 80%.Overall, 24 % of total patients can be taken up for ALND without performing SLNB.This study can guide us to utilize ultrasound and ultrasound-guided FNAC as a routine evaluation tool in the pre operative assessment of axillary lymph nodes in early breast cancer. Our study showed good and acceptable result (75%) in isolating and retrieving the targeted node by just following the Vascular pedicle based node mapping of axilla to locate the suspicious node without using any tagging or marking of node from where FNAC was performed. This finding can act as a good practicing tool in a busy high volume, logistics issue and and resource constraint hospitals.[Table: see text]

Efficacy of ultrasound in the evaluation of axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer

Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of pre-operative ultrasound axilla in characterisation of lymph node status in patients with breast cancer by comparison to sentinel lymph node biopsy histology.

Role of Axillary Ultrasound in Defining Surgical Management of Breast Cancer Patients with Nodal Disease.

Abstract Background:With the introduction of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy, breast cancer patients with nodal disease have to undergo second surgical axillary procedure. The aim of our study was to correlate the accuracy of ultrasound in redefining surgery in breast cancer patients.Methods:The records of all breast cancer patients who underwent Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (ALND) from January 2008 to December 2008 were reviewed. Of these, patients who had pre operative axillary ultrasound and/or fine needle aspiration cytology were included. All ultrasound were performed by the radiologist with special interest in breast imaging at our breast centre. Comparison of the ultrasound and FNA findings with ALND findings was performed.Results:Seventy Five patients had axillary ultrasound during this period. Twenty five patients (32.3%) had abnormal ultrasound findings. Of these, 22 patients had positive surgical staging and three patients had negative surgical staging. Ten of the abnormal axilla had FNAC done. Of these, seven patients had metastatic cells and all of these patients have finally proven to have positive axillary lymph nodes. Of the fifty patients (67.7%) with normal axilla, 34 patients had negative surgical staging and 16 had positive staging The sensitivity of ultrasound axilla was 57.89%, and specificity was 96%. The positive predictive value was 88% and the negative predictive value was 78.57%Discussion:Ultrasound examination of axilla is a safe and fast method of assessing the lymph nodal status in the preoperative staging of axilla. The results of our study are mostly in agreement with previous published studies. This will reduce the number of patients having to undergo a second axillary procedure, hence saving resources both financially and operating time. It will reduce the number of hospital admissions for the patient; improve cost effectiveness and the patient pathway. We therefore recommend routine axillary ultrasound with FNAC of suspicious/pathological nodes to avoid sentinel node procedure i.e., proceed directly to axillary clearance. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 1033.