ObjectiveTo summarize the current status and advances of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) technique in breast cancer. MethodsThe pertinent domestic and overseas literatures were reviewed and the localization, harvest, status assessment, indications, and complications of SLNB were analyzed. ResultsSLNB could accurately locate and pick out sentinel lymph node (SLN) in breast cancer. The development on imaging examination and pathological techniques promoted the assessment of SLN, and the indications of SLNB were expanding. The complication rate of SLNB was low and the technique could accurately predict axillary lymph node staging and direct selective axillary lymph node dissection. ConclusionsSLNB has been an important method of surgical therapy in breast cancer, but the operation process needs to be further standardized to decrease the false negative rate. Continuative attentions shall be paid to the problems such as the false positive and controversial indications.
ObjectiveTo explore the feasibility and the practical value of conserving upper limb lymph nodes in axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) for early breast cancer. MethodsFrom August 2007 to January 2010, 124 patients with early breast cancer were studied and divided into two phases: phase one, from August 2007 to July 2008; phase two, from August 2008 to January 2010. Five milliliter of methylene blue was injected subcutaneously in ipsilateral forearm in all the patients before operation to locate the upper limb lymph nodes. Routine ALND was performed in 22 patients of phase one. The level Ⅱ lymph nodes and the upper limb lymph nodes were separated from the axillary lymph nodes, respectively. The lymph nodes of level Ⅱ were investigated by combining touch cytology with frozen section during operation. The lymph nodes of level Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, and the upper limb lymph nodes were investigated postoperatively by routine pathological examination to evaluate the feasibility of conserving the upper limb lymph nodes. One hundred and two patients in phase two were divided randomly by lottery into control group (30 cases), and conserving group (72 cases) in which upper limb lymph nodes were selectively conserved. The surgical procedure for control group was same as the phase one blue stained upper limb lymph nodes, in the conserving group were conserved selectively when the lymph nodes metastasis of level Ⅱ were not detected by combining touch cytology with frozen section during operation. The data were collected and analysed on pathological results of all patients and arm circumference was compared between control group and conserving group. Results Total 119 of 124 patients (96.0%) were found with blue stained upper limb lymph nodes. The concordance rate was 99.2% (123/124) between the intraoperative combining pathological method and the postoperative routine pathological examination. No upper limb lymph node metastasis was found in the phase one and the control group of phase two with level Ⅱ group negative. The incidence of arm lymphedema in the control group and the conserving group with level Ⅰ and Ⅱ lymph nodes dissection was 18.2% （4/22） and 20% （1/51）, respectively on 6 months after operation. The difference was statistically significant （χ 2=6,34， Plt;0.05）. ConclusionsMethylene blue being injected subcutaneously in ipsilateral upper limb can be used to show validly lymph nodes of upper limb in the axillary region. ALND with selectively conserving upper limb lymph nodes when level Ⅱ lymph nodes negative in metastasis, can prevent postoperative arm lymphedema.
ObjectiveTo summarize the current situation and progress of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in breast cancer. MethodsDomestic and foreign documents related SLNB in breast cancer in recent years were collected to summaize some problems about the definition, indications, biopsy techniques, improvement methods of the detection rate, the pathological examinations of sentinel lymph node (SLN), the types of metastasis, clinical applications of SLNB technology in breast cancer, and so on. ResultsThe indications of SLNB were expanding. The development of the tracer, imaging examination, and pathological detection technology contributed to the status assessment of SLN in breast cancer. The operation method of SLNB in breast cancer had no uniform standards yet. There were many arguments on whether SLNB can guide axillary lymph node dissection, and the detection rate and the false negative rate of it varied widely. ConclusionsSLNB technology has became an important method in the surgical therapy of breast cancer, but the operation still needs to be further standardized. The clinical application of SLNB also needs a lot of prospective multicenter randomized experiments for further demonstration.
ObjectiveTo discuss the strategy of locoregional surgery for breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. MethodThe pertinent literatures about locoregional surgery concerning breast-conserving therapy, factors of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence, pathological shrinkage modes of breast primary tumor, and sentinel lymph node biopsy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy were reviewed. Results①The major benefit of neoadjuvant chemotherapy was to increase the proportion of breast-conserving therapy after downstaging the primary breast tumor. However, the use of breast-conserving therapy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy might remain a higher risk of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence. It was now widely recognized that the risk factors for ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence were multifocal pattern of residual tumor and pathologic residual tumor larger than 2 cm. The shrinkage mode of the primary breast tumor after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and its relative factors were still unclear. 2 Sentinel lymph node biopsy(SLNB) was feasible either before or after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and approval by SLNB guideline and expert consensus. Patients with a cN0 status could get more benefits from SLNB after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Although there was a bright future for SLNB as an alternative to ALND for patients with primary cN1 and downstaging to cN0 after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, it needed to obtain the accepted clinical identification rate, false negative rate, as well as similar regional recurrence rate and overall survival as compared to ALND. ConclusionsCurrently, surgical management is crucial for reducing the locoregional recurrence risk of breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, no matter what the clinical and radiographic efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy is. In the era of genomics and SLNB, individual locoregional surgical management could be arrived according to the primary stage and neoadjuvant chemotherapy response.
ObjectiveTo explore influence of molecular classification of breast cancer on surgical treatment of axillary lymph nodes. MethodThe related literatures which discussed the relation between molecular classification and axillary lymph node metastasis were reviewed and analyzed. ResultsThe triple negative breast cancer had a lower rate of sentinel lymph node or non-sentinel lymph node metastasis. The axillary lymph node metastasis rate was higher in the luminal B or HER-2 overexpression subtypes. Especially, luminal B subtype had a higher risk of sentinel lymph node or non-sentinel lymph node metastasis as compared with the other subtypes. Elderly patients with breast conserving operation could be free for axillary lymph node dissection when only 1-2 sentinel lymph node metastases. There was still a positive possibility of non-sentinel lymph node for younger patients with a larger tumor size, even if the sentinel lymph node negative, the lymph node dissection may benefit these patients. ConclusionBreast cancer molecular classification should be considered for the surgery selection of axillary lymph node dissection.