Abstract:

Abstract:Objective To analyze the sentinel lymph node metastasis in the breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and axillary lymph node di
ssection (ALND),and to investigate the application value of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in the breast cancer patients after NAC.
Methods 52 breast cancer patients after NAC and 35 non-NAC breast cancer patients were selected.All of the patients accept SLNB and ALND and received a subareolar injection of 99m Technetium(Tc)  labeled unfiltered sulfur colloid.The sentinel lymph node was detected by a gamma probe during the operations.Then the conventional ALND were performed.All of the sentinel lymph nodes and axillary lymph nodes were sent for pathological  examination.Results A total of 113 sentinel lymph nodes were detected a fter NAC in 52  breast cancer patients,the successful identification rate was 100%.The accuracy,false negative rate,sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of SLNB in the breast cancer patients after NAC were 94.2%,8.1%,91.9%,100%,100%,and 83.3%,respectively. A total of 73 sentinel lymph nodes were detected in 35  non-NAC patients,the successful identification rate was 100%. The accuracy,false negative rate,sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of SLNB in the breast cancer patients after NAC were 94.3%,7.1%,92.8%,100%,100%,and 77.8%,respectively.Conclusion
 SLNB after NAC may gradually replace ALND as the standard treatment for lymph node negative patients after NAC treatment.

Key words:  , neoadjuvant chemotherapy, breast neoplasm, sentinel lymph node, biopsy