title: 94% accuracy of intraoperative imprint touch cytology of sentinel nodes in skin melanoma patients.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to assess whether the reliability of imprint touch cytology (ITC) of sentinel nodes in skin melanoma patients allows intraoperative decisions regarding simultaneous radical lymphadenectomy to be made.
  
  
  METHODS
  The results of ITC of sentinel nodes were compared with the results of standard histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 148 sentinel nodes were identified in 98 lymph node groups in 85 skin melanoma patients. ITC revealed the presence of metastases in 7 out of 16 melanoma-positive sentinel nodes (sensitivity, 43.7%). There were no false-positive results of ITC of sentinel nodes (specificity, 100%). The negative predictive value of ITC was 93.6%, the positive predictive value was 100%, and the accuracy of the method was 93.9%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ITC of sentinel nodes is a reliable method. There was no risk of overtreatment due to false-positive results of sentinel node ITC in our study. High accuracy of the method warrants its clinical use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Dariusz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nejc
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pasz-Walczak
authors.forename: Janusz
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piekarski
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pluta
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sek
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bilski
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Durczynski
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berner
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jastrzebski
authors.forename: Arkadiusz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jeziorski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003581:Cytodiagnosis / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D016591:Histocytological Preparation Techniques / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery