Feasibility of lymphoscintigraphy for sentinel node identification after neo-adjuvant therapy
Giovanni Corso 1, Chiara Maria Grana 2, Laura Gilardi 2, Silvia Melania Baio 2, Daniela De Lorenzo 2, Patrick Maisonneuve 3, Nicole Rotmensz 3, Bettina Ballardini 1, Germana Lissidini 1, Silvia Ratini 1, Fabio D. Bassi 1, Paolo Veronesi 1,4, Viviana Galimberti 1
Affiliations
Article Info
1 Breast Surgery Division, European Institute of Oncology, Milan. Italy
2 Nuclear Medicine Division, European Institute of Oncology, Milan. Italy
3 Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division, European Institute of Oncology, Milan. Italy
4 University of Milan, Italy
Abstract
AIM: To assess the sentinel-node identification rate at lymphoscintigraphy and its technical feasibility after neo-adjuvant treatments. MATERIAL OF STUDY: Between 2000 and 2013, 444 consecutive patients affected by primary locally advanced breast cancer were enrolled in this study. All individuals were candidate for neo-adjuvant treatments and for lymphoscintigraphy before surgery. RESULTS: The median age was 44 years at onset; almost one sentinel node was identified during lymphoscintigraphy in 430 cases. The detection rate at lymphoscintigraphy was 96.9% (95% CI, 94.8-98.1%). Considering the correlation between specific treatments and sentinel node identification rate, we verified that the detection rate did not vary significantly (p=0.53) according to the type of neo-adjuvant therapies administered to the patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that lymphoscintigraphy for sentinel node identification is a safe and feasible procedure after neo-adjuvant therapies, independently of treatment types.
Keywords
- Breast Cancer
- Neo-Adjuvant Treatment
- Sentinel lymphnode biopsy
- Lymphoscintigraphy