title: The combination of blue dye and radioisotope versus radioisotope alone during sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer: a systematic review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The combination of blue dye and radioisotope is most widely used to identify sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in patients with breast cancer. However, some individual studies suggested that dual tracers did not have an advantage over radioisotope alone in detecting SLNs. We performed a systematic review to investigate the added value of blue dye in addition to radioisotope.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched Pubmed and Embase. Prospective studies that compared the combination of radioisotope and blue dye with radioisotope alone were selected. The identification rate of SLNs and the false-negative rate were the main outcomes of interest. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidential intervals (CIs) were calculated by using random-effects model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-four studies were included. The combination of radioisotope and blue dye showed higher identification rate than radioisotope alone (OR = 2.03, 95% CI 1.53-2.69, P < 0.05). However, no statistically significant difference was revealed for patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (OR = 1.64, 95% CI 0.82-3.27, P > 0.05), or for studies with high proportion of patients with positive lymphoscintigraphy (OR = 1.41, 95% CI 0.83-2.39, P > 0.05). Dual tracers did not significantly lower the false-negative rate compared with radioisotope alone (OR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.44-1.29, P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the combination of blue dye and radioisotope outperformed radioisotope alone in SLN detection, the superiority for dual tracers may be limited for patients with positive lymphoscintigraphy or for those after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Besides, the combined modality did not help lower the false-negative rate.
authors.affiliation: The Second Department of General Surgery, Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital, 165 Xincheng Road, Chongqing, 404000, China.
authors.forename: Pei-Sheng
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: The Second Department of General Surgery, Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital, 165 Xincheng Road, Chongqing, 404000, China. fengl_sx@126.com.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The Second Department of General Surgery, Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital, 165 Xincheng Road, Chongqing, 404000, China.
authors.forename: Guan-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The Second Department of General Surgery, Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital, 165 Xincheng Road, Chongqing, 404000, China.
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: The Second Department of General Surgery, Chongqing Three Gorges Central Hospital, 165 Xincheng Road, Chongqing, 404000, China.
authors.forename: Tian-Jin
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D011868:Radioisotopes