title: One-Step Nucleic Acid Amplification in Breast Cancer Sentinel Lymph Node: A Single Institutional Experience and a Short Review.
abstract: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) examination is a standard in breast cancer patients, with several methods employed along its 20 years history, the last one represented by one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA). The latter is a intra-operative molecular assay searching for CK19 mRNA as a surrogate of metastatic cells. Our 3 years experience with OSNA (1122 patients) showed results overlapping those recorded in the same institution with a morphological evaluation (930 patients) of SLN. In detail, the data of OSNA were almost identical to those observed with standard post-operative procedure in terms of patients with positive SLN (30%) and micrometastatic/macrometastatic involvement of SLN (respectively, 38-45 and 62-55%). By contrast, when OSNA was compared to the standard intraoperatory procedure, it was superior in terms of accuracy, prompting the use of this molecular assay as a very valid, and reproducible for intra-operative evaluation of SLN. Further possibilities prompting the use of OSNA range from adhesion to quality control programs, saving of medical time, ability to predict, during surgery, additional nodal metastasis, and molecular bio-banking.
authors.affiliation: Pathology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brambilla
authors.affiliation: Pathology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fiamengo
authors.affiliation: Senology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tinterri
authors.affiliation: Senology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Testori
authors.affiliation: Senology Unit, Humanitas Gavazzeni , Bergamo , Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo Maria
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Grassi
authors.affiliation: Pathology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Amedeo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sciarra
authors.affiliation: Pathology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abbate
authors.affiliation: Senology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gatzemeier
authors.affiliation: Pathology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roncalli
authors.affiliation: Pathology Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Hospital , Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Tommaso
keywords: accuracy; breast cancer; frozen section; molecular analysis; morphological analysis; permanent sections; sentinel node examination