Study of sentinel lymph node in breast cancer: Our experience in 46 cases

At the Surgery Department of Biella 46 patients were enrolled in a study on the sentinel lymph node (SN) in the period from 1 January 1999 to 30 Septe mber 1999. The aim of the study was to determine, on the basis of our own e xperience, the percentages of accuracy and concordance, and compare them wi th case series abroad and in Italy; in addition, we sought to establish a p ossible correlation between certain features of breast cancer and positivit y of the axilla, The method, utilized was lymphoscintigraphy and gamma prob e. Fifteen cases with positive axillary lymph nodes and 12 cases with posit ive sentinel lymph nodes were found; there were no false positive and three false negative results. No migration of the tracer was observed with lymph oscintigraphy in two cases. The percentage of concordance obtained was 93.2 % in the complete series and 96.5% in the subseries that excluded the learn ing curve. Comparing the percentage of concordance of our case series with those abroad and in Italy, an average overlapping percentage was obtained. The percentage of accuracy obtained in our study was 95.7%, which is slight ly higher than the average of percentages of the case series abroad and in Italy.