Diagnostic value of preoperative sonographic evaluation for
axillary lymph node metastases in breast cancer patients

Han, Dongil; Gwak, Geumhee; Han, Sehwan; Kim, Ji-Young; Park, Kyeongmee; Cho, Hyunjin; Yang, Geunho; Bae, Byungnoe; Kim, Kihwan

doi:2011.7.1.60

Korean Journal of Clinical Oncology > Article

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Korean J Clin Oncol. 2011;7(1): 60-65. doi: https://doi.org/10.14216/kjco.11010

Diagnostic value of preoperative sonographic evaluation for axillary lymph node metastases in breast cancer patients

Dongil Han¹, Geumhee Gwak¹, Sehwan Han¹, Ji-Young Kim², Kyeongmee Park³, Hyunjin Cho¹, Geunho Yang¹, Byungnoe Bae¹, Kihwan Kim¹

¹Department of Surgery, Inje University Sangge-Paik Hospital
²Department of Radiology, Inje University Sangge-Paik Hospital
³Department of Pathology, Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital

유방암 환자의 액와 림프절 전이에 대한 수술 전 초음파 검사의 진단 유용성

한동일¹, 곽금희¹, 한세환¹, 김지영², 박경미³, 조현진¹, 양근호¹, 배병노¹, 김기환¹

^¹인제 대학교 상계백병원 외과학교실
^²인제 대학교 상계백병원 영상의학교실
^³인제 대학교 상계백병원 병리학교실

Corresponding Author: Geumhee Gwak ,Tel: +82-2-950-1938, Fax: +82-2-933-9389, Email: gsrad@hanmail.net

Received: May 23, 2011; Accepted: June 20, 2011.

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The aim of this study was evaluate predictive value of preoperative sonography for the evaluation of axillary lymph node metastases in breast cancer patients. Materials and
Methods: The study included 226 patients who underwent curative surgery between Jan. 2008 ~ Dec. 2010 at Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital. We analyzed preoperative sonographic findings of axillary lymph nodes and compared the finding with postoperative histologic results of axillary lymph nodes evaluation.
Results: When we compared preoperative sonographic evaluation of metastatic lymph node with final histological results, the sensitivity of sonographic evaluation was 81.3% and specificity was 77.5%. False positive rate was 10.7% and false negative rate was 35.8%. The accuracy of preoperative sonographic evaluation of lymph node metastasis was 78.7%. Primary tumor size was the only significant predictive factor for lymph node metastasis on multivariate analysis.
Conclusion: preoperative sonographic evaluation of axillary lymph node had limited value with moderate accuracy. High false-negative rate of preoperative sonography indicates that preoperative sonography cannot replace intraoperative sentinel node evaluation at this stage.

Keywords: axillary lymph nodes metastases | breast ca | breast sonography