Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration for Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2018 Jul;44(7):1371-1378. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2018.03.005. Epub 2018 Apr 6.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess whether translymphatic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) combined with fine-needle aspiration (FNA) can be used pre-operatively to assess the status of axillary lymph nodes in early-stage breast cancer patients. Furthermore, we wanted to determine whether this less invasive method could potentially be a pre-operative surgical strategy. One hundred sixty-four sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) were detected by CEUS after intradermal injection of microbubbles in 126 cases. One hundred twenty of 126 cases (95.24%) were accurately diagnosed with the SLN-FNA method. All 6 false-negative cases were due to micrometastasis or macrometastasis. There were no false-positive results after CEUS-guided FNA biopsy based on post-operative histopathological results. In conclusion, translymphatic CEUS combined with SLN-FNA is a less traumatic approach that has high accuracy in the pre-operative evaluation of axillary lymph node status. It might have the potential to be as reliable an indicator for axillary lymph node dissection as SLN biopsy.

Keywords: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound; Early-stage breast cancer; Fine-needle aspiration cytology; Sentinel lymph node; Sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Biopsy, Fine-Needle
  • Breast / diagnostic imaging
  • Breast / pathology
  • Breast Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cohort Studies
  • Contrast Media*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / methods*
  • Microbubbles
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / methods*
  • Ultrasonography, Interventional / methods*
  • Ultrasonography, Mammary / methods*

Substances

  • Contrast Media