title: Is the "10% rule" equally valid for all subsets of sentinel-node-positive breast cancer patients?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In breast cancer, a combination of radioisotope and blue dye mapping maximizes the success and accuracy of sentinel node (SLN) biopsy. When multiple radioactive nodes are present, there is no single definition of isotope success, but the popular "10% rule" dictates removal of all SLN with counts >10% of the most radioactive node. Here we determine how frequently a positive SLN would be missed by the 10% rule.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 9/96 and 12/04, we performed 6,369 successful SLN biopsies using (99m)Tc sulfur colloid and isosulfan blue dye, removing as SLN all radioactive and/or blue nodes, and taking counts from each node ex vivo. Standard processing of all SLNs with a benign frozen section included hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, serial sectioning, and immunohistochemistry (IHC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  33% of patients (2,130/6,369) had positive SLNs. Of these patients, 1,387/2,130 (65%) had >1 SLN identified. The most radioactive SLN was benign in 29% (398/1,387), and 107/1,387 (8%) had a positive SLN that was neither blue nor the hottest. From this group 1.7% (24/1387) of patients had positive SLN with counts <10% radioactive counts of the hottest node. The 10% rule captured 98.3% of positive nodes in patients with multiple SLNs. No patient characteristics were predictive of failure of the 10% rule.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With combined isotope and blue dye mapping, the 10% rule is a robust guideline and fails to identify only 1.7% (24/1387) of all SLN-positive patients with multiple SLNs. This guideline appears to be equally valid for all subsets of patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Breast Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, MRI-1026, New York, NY 10065, USA. alicepingchung@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Jeanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stempel
authors.forename: Sujata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.forename: Hiram
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cody
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Montgomery
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D013671:Technetium Tc 99m Sulfur Colloid
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes; C025484:iso-sulfan blue; D013671:Technetium Tc 99m Sulfur Colloid