Usefulness of Ultrasound and Ultrasound-guided Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsy for Axillary Staging in Breast Cancer: Analysis of 327 patients at a single institution.

Jang,  Mijung; Kim,  Sun Mi; Lyou,  Chae Yeon; Moon,  Woo Kyung; Cho,  Nariya; Kang,  Eunyoung; Kim,  Sung Won; Park,  So Yeon; Kim,  Jee Hyun; Kim,  Yu Jung

Journal of Korean Society of Ultrasound in Medicine 2010;29(4): 281-286.

Mijung Jang, Sun Mi Kim, Chae Yeon Lyou, Woo Kyung Moon, Nariya Cho, Eunyoung Kang, Sung Won Kim, So Yeon Park, Jee Hyun Kim, Yu Jung Kim

¹Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Korea. kimsmlms@paran.com
²Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital, Korea.
³Department of Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Korea.
⁴Department of Pathology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Korea.
⁵Department of Medical Oncology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Korea.

Published online: December 1, 2010.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy of ultrasound (US) and US-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) for the diagnosis of metastasis in the axillary lymph node (LN) of patients with breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of the data was performed on 327 breast cancer patients that underwent axillary US from Jun 2006 to July 2008. US-guided FNAB was performed when a LN indicated suspicious findings. Results of FNAB were compared with those of subsequent surgery. RESULTS: Of the 327 patients, 111 showed suspicious findings on US and underwent FNAB. Among the 111 cases, 73 (66%) were positive for cancer, while 38 (34%) were negative results. A Total of 254 patients who had normal findings on US (n=216) and negative results on FNAB (n=38) underwent SNB, of which 56 (22%) were proven to have metastasis. Sensitivity and specificity of US were 61.9% and 81.8%, respectively, with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 65.8% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 79.2%. Sensitivity and specificity of US-guided FNAB were 86.9% and 100%, respectively, with a PPV of 100% and a NPV of 71.7%. CONCLUSION: US and US-guided FNAB performed for axillary staging are useful methods with a high specificity and positive predictive value in invasive breast cancer patients.

Keywords: Breast neoplasm; Ultrasound(US); Axilla; Lymph nodes; Fine needle aspiration