Abstract:
Objective :To evaluate the significance of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB)in breast carcinoma and to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of SLNB by cytokeratinl9 ( CK19)RT-PCR.
Meth-ods :Unselected 73 patients with breast carcinoma underwent SLNB using patentblue, and SLNs of 29 patients were detected with CK19 RT-PCR.
Results : SLNs were identifiedin 67 patients (91.8%). The sensitivity and accuracy of routine examination of pathology for SLNswas 68.8%C22/32)and 85.1%(57/67) respectively. The sensitivity and accuracy of CK19 RT-PCRfor SLNs was 90.0%C 18/20)and 93.1%(27/29) respectively.
Conclusion : SLNB is useful to dleter-mine the status of axillary lymph nodes of breast carcinoma.CK19 RT-PCR can improve thesensitivity and accuracy of SLNB.