title: Lymph node imprint cytology for the rapid assessment of axillary node metastases in breast cancer.
abstract: Lymph node imprint cytology was performed on 86 nodes from 13 consecutive patients with breast cancer undergoing simple mastectomy with axillary node sampling, and a prospective comparison with paraffin section was made. The results showed a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of 0.93 and 0.98 respectively. The predictive value of a positive result was 0.98. This technique can be used to identify patients with Stage I disease rapidly, thereby allowing their exclusion from treatment with peri-operative chemotherapy.
mesh_terms: D001365:Axilla; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D003584:Cytological Techniques; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D013997:Time Factors