Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is being evaluated in breast cancer patien
ts to improve detection of metastases and to guide therapy with minimal mor
bidity. The aim of this study was to increase the sensitivity of tumor cell
detection in SLNs using superior reverse transcription polymerase chain re
action (RT-PCR) for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and mammaglobin (MMG) an
alysis rather than current methods which fail to identify clinically releva
nt disease in many patients. In seventy stage I and II breast cancer patien
ts dye-guided lymph node mapping was performed and the SLNs were divided al
ternately for RT-PCR or hematoxylin and eosin staining (H&E), RT-PCR and H&
E diagnosis of SLNs were compared. SLNs were identified in 66/70 (94.3%) pa
tients. Seventeen patients (26.2%) had histological metastasis in SLNs. CEA
was expressed in 25.0% of 48 patients with H&E negative SLNs, acid MMG was
expressed in 20.8%. SLNs could predict axillary lymph node status with 95.
4% accuracy and 6.3% false negative rate by H&E. Moreover, RT-PCR improved
these to 98.5% and 2.8%, respectively. SLN diagnosis using RT-PCR is a powe
rful and sensitive method, which increases the accuracy of clinical staging
and may provide more informed choices for appropriate therapeutic manageme
nt of breast cancer patients.