Three-axillary lymph node sampling for the prediction of nonsentinel node metastases in breast cancer patients with sentinel node metastases

Background: In half of breast cancer patients with positive sentinel nodes, the sentinel nodes are the only metastatic nodes. Such patients have no more metastatic nonsentinel nodes and do not need to undergo axillary lymph node dissection. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether three-axillary lymph node sampling after sentinel node biopsy predicts the status of nonsentinel nodes in patients with sentinel node metastases. Methods: Sentinel node biopsy was performed with dye and radioisotope. When the sentinel nodes were diagnosed as metastasis positive by using intraoperative imprint cytology, three-axillary lymph node sampling was performed, followed by axillary lymph node dissection. Results: Of 47 cases with positive imprint cytology, 43 (91%) were diagnosed as metastasis positive on their final histological examination and were analyzed. The status of the sampled nodes was significantly associated with the status of nonsentinel nodes (P < .0001). Six (43%) of 14 patients with positive sampled nodes had at least 1 positive remaining node. Only 2 (7%) of 29 patients whose sampled nodes were negative were found to have additional nodal metastases. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the sampled nodes for the prediction of nonsentinel node metastases were 87.5%, 100%, and 95.3%, respectively. Conclusions: We demonstrated that three-node sampling may be useful for predicting the status of nonsentinel nodes and avoiding axillary lymph node dissection in patients with only sentinel node metastases.