Five-node biopsy of the axilla: an alternative to axillary dissection of levels I-II in operable breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
Axillary clearance of patients with early breast cancer is accompanied by a high risk of arm morbidity. Less invasive ways to establish the axillary nodal status are therefore of interest, especially in women with low risk of nodal metastases.


METHODS
Four hundred and fifteen breast cancer patients (clinical stage T(0-3) N(0-1) M(0)) were operated in the axilla with a five-node biopsy followed in the same operation by a further dissection of levels I-II of the axilla in order to evaluate the accuracy of the five-node node biopsy compared with level I-II dissection.


RESULTS
In all patients the sensitivity of the five-node biopsy was 97.3% with a negative predictive value of 98.5% and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.027. Among cases detected by screening (n=204) and those clinically detected (n=197) the sensitivity of the five-node biopsy was 95.8% and 97.9% respectively, with negative predictive values of 98.7% and 98.0% and negative likelihood ratios of 0.042 and 0.021 respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Five-node biopsy of the axilla has good accuracy for correctly staging the axilla in both clinically and screening-detected cases. Five-node biopsy is an alternative to axillary clearance and sentinel node biopsy in patients with operable breast cancer.
Ahlgren
J
J
Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Uppsala, S-751 85, Sweden.
Holmberg
L
L
Bergh
J
J
Liljegren
G
G
D000368:Aged; D001365:Axilla; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008408:Mastectomy / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome