• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.17
• /
• pp.7049-7054
• /
• 2014

Background: Almost half of the breast cancer patients with positive sentinel lymph nodes have no additional disease in the remaining axillary lymph nodes. This group of patients do not benefit from complete axillary lymph node dissection. This study was designed to assess the clinicopathologic factors that predict non-sentinel lymph node metastasis in Iranian breast cancer patients with positive sentinel lymph nodes. Materials and Methods: The records of patients who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy, between 2003 and 2012, were reviewed. Patients with at least one positive sentinel lymph node who underwent completion axillary lymph node dissection were enrolled in the present study. Demographic and clinicopathologic characteristics including age, primary tumor size, histological and nuclear grade, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, extracapsular invasion, and number of harvested lymph nodes, were evaluated. Results: The data of 167 patients were analyzed. A total of 92 (55.1%) had non-sentinel lymph node metastasis. Univariate analysis of data revealed that age, primary tumor size, histological grade, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, extracapsular invasion, and the number of positive sentinel lymph nodes to the total number of harvested sentinel lymph nodes ratio, were associated with non-sentinel lymph node metastasis. After logistic regression analysis, age (OR=0.13; 95% CI, 0.02-0.8), primary tumor size (OR=7.7; 95% CI, 1.4-42.2), lymphovascular invasion (OR=19.4; 95% CI, 1.4-268.6), extracapsular invasion (OR=13.3; 95% CI, 2.3-76), and the number of positive sentinel lymph nodes to the total number of harvested sentinel lymph nodes ratio (OR=20.2; 95% CI, 3.4-121.9), were significantly associated with non-sentinel lymph node metastasis. Conclusions: According to this study, age, primary tumor size, lymphovascular invasion, extracapsular invasion, and the ratio of positive sentinel lymph nodes to the total number of harvested sentinel lymph nodes, were found to be independent predictors of non-sentinel lymph node metastasis.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.132-137
• /
• 2014

Purpose: To evaluate non-sentinel lymph node (LN) status after sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNB) in patients with breast cancer and to identify the predictive factors for disease failure. Materials and Methods: From January 2006 to December 2007, axillary lymph node (ALN) dissection after SNB was performed for patients with primary invasive breast cancer who had no clinical evidence of LN metastasis. A total of 320 patients were treated with breast-conserving surgery and radiotherapy. Results: The median age of patients was 48 years, and the median follow-up time was 72.8 months. Close resection margin (RM) was observed in 13 patients. The median number of dissected SNB was two, and that of total retrieved ALNs was 11. Sentinel node accuracy was 94.7%, and the overall false negative rate (FNR) was 5.3%. Eleven patients experienced treatment failure. Local recurrence, regional LN recurrence, and distant metastasis were identified in 0.9%, 1.9%, and 2.8% of these patients, respectively. Sentinel LN status were not associated with locoregional recurrence (p > 0.05). Close RM was the only significant factor for disease-free survival (DFS) in univariate and multivariate analysis. The 5-year overall survival, DFS, and locoregional DFS were 100%, 96.8%, and 98.1%, respectively. Conclusion: In this study, SNB was performed with high accuracy and low FNR and high locoregional control was achieved.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.478-486
• /
• 2000

Purpose: The sentinel lymph node is defined as the first draining node from a primary tumor and reflects the histologic feature of the remainder of the lymphatic basin status. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative radioguided gamma probe for identification and removal of sentinel lymph node in breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Lymphoscintigraphy was performed preoperatively in 15 patients with biopsy proven primary breast cancer. Tc-99m antimony sulfide colloid was injected intradermally at four points around the tumor. Imaging acquisition included dynamic imaging, followed by early and late static images at 2 hours. The sentinel lymph node criteria on lymphoscintigraphy is the first node of the highest uptake in early and late static images. We tagged the node emitting the highest activity both in vivo and ex vivo. Histologic study for sentinel and axillary lymph node investigation was done by Hematoxylin-Eosin staining. Results: On lymphoscintigraphy, three of 15 patients had clear lymphatic vessels in dynamic images, and 11 of 15 patients showed sentinel lymph node in early static image and three in late static 2 hours image. Mean detection time of sentinel lymph node on lymphoscintigraphy was $33.5{\pm}48.4$ minutes. The sentinel lymph node localization and removal by lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative gamma probe were successful in 14 of 15 patients (detection rate: 93.3%). On lymphoscintigraphy, 14 of 15 patients showed $2.47{\pm}2.00$ sentinel lymph nodes. On intraoperative gamma probe, $2.36{\pm}1.96$ sentinel lymph nodes were detected. In 7 patients with positive results of sentinel lymph node metastasis, 5 patients showed positive results of axillary lymph node (sensitivity: 72%) but two did not. In 7 patients with negative results of sentinel lymph node metastasis, all axillary nodes were free of disease (specificity: 100%). Conclusion: Sentinel lymph node biopsy with lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative gamma probe is a reliable method to predict axillary lymph node metastasis in breast cancer, and unnecessary axillary lymph node dissection can be avoided.

• Journal of Breast Cancer
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.442-446
• /
• 2018

Purpose: The definition of nodal pathologic complete response (pCR) after a neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) just included the evaluation of axillary lymph node (ALN) without internal mammary lymph node. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of internal mammary-sentinel lymph node biopsy (IM-SLNB) in patients with breast cancer who underwent NAC. Methods: From November 2011 to 2017, 179 patients with primary breast cancer who underwent operation after NAC were included in this study. All patients received radiotracer injection with modified injection technology. IM-SLNB would be performed on patients with internal mammary sentinel lymph node (IMSLN) visualization. Results: Among the 158 patients with cN+ disease, the rate of nodal pCR was 36.1% (57/158). Among the 179 patients, the visualization rate of IMSLN was 31.8% (57/179) and was 12.3% (7/57) and 87.7% (50/57) among those with $cN_0$ and cN+ disease, respectively. Furthermore, the detection rate of IMSLN was 31.3% (56/179). The success rate of IM-SLNB was 98.2% (56/57). The IMSLN metastasis rate was 7.1% (4/56), and all of them were accompanied by ALN metastasis. The number of positive ALNs in patients with IMSLN metastasis was 3, 6, 8, and 9. The pathology nodal stage had been changed from $pN_1/pN_2$ to $pN_{3b}$. The pathology stage had been changed from IIA/IIIA to IIIC. Conclusion: Patients with visualization of IMSLN should perform IM-SLNB after NAC, especially for patients with cN+ disease, in order to complete lymph nodal staging. IM-SLNB could further improve the definition of nodal pCR and guide the internal mammary node irradiation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.114-122
• /
• 2010

This paper presents a method that registers a lymphoscintigraphy to the real image captured by a CMOS camera, which helps surgeons to easily and precisely detect sentinel lymph nodes for sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer patients. The proposed method consists of two steps: pre-matching and image registration. In the first step, we localize fiducial markers in a lymphoscintigraphy and a real image of a four quadrant bar phantom by using image processing techniques, and then determines perspective transformation parameters by matching with the corresponding marker points. In the second step, we register a lymphoscintigraphy to a real images of patients by using the perspective transformation of pre-matching. To examine the accuracy of the proposed method, we conducted an experiment with a chest mock-up with radioactive markers. As a result, the euclidean distance between corresponding markers was less than 3mm. In conclusion, the present method can be used to accurately align lymphoscintigraphy and real images of patients without attached markers to patients, and then provide useful anatomical information on sentinel lymph node biopsy.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.509-518
• /
• 2019

Purpose: Lymph node metastasis is a very important prognostic factor for all skin cancers and some sarcomas. A sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is the most useful technique for identifying SLNs. Recently, a new generation of diagnostic tools, such as single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) and positron emission tomography/CT (PET/CT) enabled the detection of SLNs. This study compared the efficacy of PET/CT for detecting lymph node metastases with a SLN biopsy in a single medical center. Materials and Methods: From 2008 to 2018, 72 skin cancers of sarcoma patients diagnosed with some lymph node involvement in a whole body PET/CT reading were assessed. Patients suspected of lymph node metastasis were sent to biopsy and those suspected to be reactive lesions were observed. The analysis was performed retrospectively using the medical records, clinical information, PET/CT readings, and pathology results. Results: The age of patients ranged from 14 to 88 years and the mean follow-up period was 2.4 years. Twenty-two patients were suspected of a lymph node metastasis and confirmed. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of PET/CT images in sarcoma and non-sarcoma tumors were increased significantly when the expert's findings were considered together. Conclusion: PET/CT is effective in detecting lymph node metastases.

• Journal of the Korean Medical Association
• /
• v.61 no.11
• /
• pp.662-669
• /
• 2018

The cutaneous melanoma has been regarded as rare disease entity in Korea for long time but it shows a silent growth recently. Furthermore the management of cutaneous melanoma including staging system, surgical principle, sentinel lymph node biopsy and subsequent complete node dissection and, most importantly, immunotherapy and target therapy against cutaneous melanoma recently. The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is steadily increasing in Korea but its increase is rapid recent 2 decades to 4.3 times and should be greater soon according to the steeper increase of life expectancy. New staging system proposed by American Joint Committee on Cancer (2017) includes changes in individual TNM category and stage groups, particularly from a prognostic viewpoint. Dermoscopy has been successfully introduced in the differential diagnosis of pigmented skin lesion focusing on cutaneous melanoma by non-invasive simple diagnostic tool. Sentinel lymph node biopsy was a issue of long debate whether survival benefit is real or not. Temporary conclusion about this question is reached after two large scale studies and immediate complete node dissection should be performed in a certain situations. Most important change is drug therapy focusing on immunotherapy and target therapy. Braf- and MEK-inhibitor, immune checkpoint inhibitor and PD-1 blocker has been proved to be effective as a sole or combination regimen against advanced and/or high-risk adjuvant setting of cutaneous melanoma. In conclusion, these remarkable changes will be reviewed shortly here.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.312-315
• /
• 2008

Purpose: Amelanotic melanoma represents a melanoma with an absence or a small number of melanin pigments and comprises 2% of all melanomas. These melanomas are frequently misdiagnosed, probably because of its nonspecific clinical features and difficulty in diagnosis, resulting in delayed diagnosis and treatment. We report a patient with amelanotic melanoma, who underwent surgical treatment with sentinel lymph node biopsy using gamma probe. Methods: A 32-year-old female was presented with a slowly growing ill-defined, hypopigmented nonerythematous lesion with nail defect on right index finger tip. Preoperative punch biopsy was performed, showing an amelanotic melanoma. Sentinel lymph node biopsy was done using gamma probe(Crystal probe system, CRYSTAL PHOTONICS GmbH, Germany) and confirmed no evidence of regional lymph node metastases. The patient underwent amputation at the proximal interphalangeal joint. Results: Histopathologic findings showed superficial spreading melanoma. There were no melanin pigments in Hematoxylin & Eosin stain but positive immunohistochemical stainings for S-100 protein and Hmb45, which were consistent with amelanotic melanoma. Patient's postoperative course was uneventful without any complication and had no evidence of recurrence of tumor in 6 months follow-up period. Conclusion: Amelanotic melanoma is extremely rare subtype of malignant melanoma with histopathologic findings of atypical melanocytes without melanin pigments. Early detection is crucial since survival is strongly related to tumor thickness and tissue invasion at the time of diagnosis. Wide excision is the treatment of choice and other conjunctive therapy has not been successful.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
• /
• v.48 no.8
• /
• pp.594-606
• /
• 2010

Lymph node status is the single most important prognostic factor in oral cancer because lymph node involvement decreases overall survival by 50%. Appropriate management of the regional lymphatics, therefore, plays a central role in the treatment of the oral cancer patients. The purposes of this article are to present the history of neck dissections, including current neck dissection classification, describe the technique of the most common neck dissection applicable to oral cavity cancers, and discuss some of the complications associated with neck dissection. Finally, a brief review of elective neck dissection and sentinel lymph node biopsy will be presented. It is necessary that dentists have to be interested in oral cancer and these interest will make it possible to prevent oral cancer, detect it earlier and also improve the prognosis, survival and the quality of life of survivors.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.142-148
• /
• 2016

Purpose: The aim of this pilot study was to determine the effect of soft tissue technique (STT) in Axillary Web Syndrome (AWS) following sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in breast cancer patients by examining the upper extremity function, range of motion, and pain. Methods: Nineteen patients with breast cancer-related AWS were evaluated. STT was performed on the symptom area for treatment of AWS symptoms. We evaluated AWS symptoms and pain intensity using a visual analogue scale (VAS), and functional disability using the Korean version of the Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, glenohumeral joint (GHJ) flexion and abduction range of motion (ROM) with or without elbow extension. Results: Visual analyses of the data suggest a modest effect of STT in improving GHJ flexion, abduction ROM with or without elbow extension, DASH for upper extremity function, and Pain. The statistically significant improvement in baseline observed for pain, DASH, and ROM data made it impossible to assess the effects of STT on those outcomes. There were no adverse events. Conclusions: STT may be an effective and safe treatment option for AWS patients recovering from breast cancer treatment; however, further research is needed.