title: Sentinel node localization in breast cancer patients using intradermal dye injection.
abstract: In a series of 161 consecutive breast cancer operations, intradermal injection of Patent Blue was used to localize the sentinel node (SN). The surgical localization rate was 60%. Including the blue lymph nodes found by the pathologist, localization rate was 70%. After the first 103 operations, the surgical procedure was changed, resulting in a localization rate of 83%. Ten surgeons participated, but only one had previous experience with SN dissection. The others experienced a steep learning curve. Metastasis was found in 42 of 97 SNs (43%). In 15 cases (36%) metastasis was recognized only after step-sectioning and immunohistochemical staining for cytokeratin. In one case a benign epithelial inclusion was found. The sentinel node was false negative in 9.1% of cases. The consensus from the literature is that the best results are achieved using a combination of dye and isotopic techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Odense University Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ilum
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bak
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kryh
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Axelsson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001365:Axilla; D001706:Biopsy; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007271:Injections, Intradermal; D007633:Keratins / Q000032:analysis; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011361:Professional Competence
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D007633:Keratins