engleski

Intraoperative imprint cytology of sentinel lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine accuracy of touch imprint cytology in intraoperative assessment of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) in breast cancer in correlation with the final histopathology results. Methods: Five hundred and twenty four consecutive patients who underwent SLNB in KBC Rijeka between January 2008 and December 2012 were analyzed. All patients had preoperative diagnosed breast carcinoma and clinically negative axillary nodes. Intraoperative touch imprint cytology (TIC) was correlated with definitive pathohistological and immunohistological results. Results: Sensitivity was 61% and specificity 97%, positive predictive value 88% and negative predictive value 88%. The main source of false negative or false positive results were micrometastasis and isolated tumor cells. There were 12% of false negative intraoperative results (4, 7% macrometastasis and 7, 1% micrometastasis). There also were12% of false positive results which were after revision considered as isolated tumor cells that were lost in permanent section. Our results are in concordance with most published data. Conclusion: We concluded that imprint cytology is an accurate and relatively simple method for the intraoperative assessment of the SLN status.

Sentinel lymph node; breast carcinoma; touch imprint cytology

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