title: Clinical utility of frozen section in sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer.
abstract: One hundred sixty-five breast cancer patients underwent a sentinel lymph node biopsy procedure over a period of 2 years. Sentinel node (SN) could be successfully localized in 157 (95%) of the patients. Complete axillary lymph node dissection was performed only if the frozen section (FS) revealed a positive SN. All SN specimens were further evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin on multiple sections and cytokeratin immunohistochemisty. The patients whose SNs were negative by FS but positive by permanent histopathologic evaluation underwent a delayed axillary lymph node dissection. SN was positive in 41 of 157 (26%) patients. Eighteen (44%) of the 41 patients with SN metastases were diagnosed intraoperatively by FS and underwent a one-stage definitive surgical treatment. The benefit of FS was most notable in patients with T1c and larger lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans 70112, USA.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Gulec
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: O'Leary
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stolier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001365:Axilla; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents