Abstract:
Objective To analyze the feasibility of axillary lymph node staging through sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with node- positive breast cancer and to explore the follow- up treatment of these patients.
Methods Clinical data of 82 patients with node-positive breast cancer before NAC in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital from January 2016 to January 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. All these patients accepted SLNB after NAC. The detection rate, accuracy, false negative rate (FNR), and influencing factors were analyzed.
Results A nodal pathological complete response (PCR) was achieved in 43 of 82 patients. The PCR rate was 52.4%. The detection rate, accuracy, and FNR were 97.56% (80/82), 88.75% (71/ 80), and 23.08% (9/39), respectively. The accuracy of 1, 2, and ≥3 SLNs detected were 90.9% (20/22), 66.7% (10/15), and 95.3% (41/ 43), respectively. The FNRs were 20.0% (2/10), 71.4% (5/7), and 9.1% (2/22), respectively (both P < 0.05).
Conclusions Due to its overall high FNR, without clinically acceptable limits, post-NAC SLNB cannot completely replace axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in nodepositive patients. However, with no less than 3 SLNs detected, SLNB can accurately evaluate the status of axillary lymph nodes.