刘静静, 刘雁冰, 邱鹏飞, et al. Internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy[J]. China Oncology, 2019, 29(2): 131-135.
刘静静, 刘雁冰, 邱鹏飞, et al. Internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy[J]. China Oncology, 2019, 29(2): 131-135. DOI: 10.19401/j.cnki.1007-3639.2019.02.006.
Background and purpose: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has become the standard treatment mode for locally advanced breast cancer patients. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical benefits of internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy (IMSLNB) in patients with breast cancer who underwent NAC. Methods: From Apr. 2014 to Apr. 2018
202 patients with primary breast cancer who underwent operation after NAC were included in this study. All patients received radiotracer injection with modified injection technology. IMSLNB was performed on patients with internal mammary sentinel lymph node (IMSLN) visualization. Results: Among the 202 patients
the visualization rate of IMSLN was 34.2% (69/202)
and it was 11.6% (8/69) and 88.4% (61/69) among patients with clinical node-negative and clinical lymph node-positive (cN
+
) disease
respectively. Furthermore
the success rate of IMSLNB was 98.6% (68/69). The detection rate of IMSLN was 33.7% (68/202)
and the metastasis rate was 11.8% (8/68). One of the 8 patients with IMSLN metastasis was not associated with axillary lymph node (ALN) metastasis (N
0
to N
1b
)
2 patients with 1-3 ALN metastases (N
1a
to N
1c
)
4 patients with 4-9 ALN metastases (N
2a
to N
3b
)
1 case with ≥10 ALN metastases (N
3a
to N
3b
)
and the postoperative pathological stage also changed (0 stage to ⅠB stage
ⅡA/ⅢA stage to ⅢC stage). These 8 cases of IMSLN metastases received internal mammary node irradiation (IMNI) after operation. Conclusion: Patients with visualization of IMSLN should receive IMSLNB after NAC
especially for patients with cN
+
disease
in order to complete lymph nodal staging. IMSLNB could further improve the definition of nodal pathologic complete response and guide the IMNI.