Research

Frozen section is superior to imprint cytology for the intra-operative assessment of sentinel lymph node metastasis in Stage I Breast cancer patients

Miki Mori¹ , Keiichiro Tada¹ , Motoko Ikenaga² , Yumi Miyagi¹ , Seiichiro Nishimura¹ , Kaoru Takahashi¹ , Masujiro Makita¹ , Takuji Iwase¹ , Fujio Kasumi¹ and Mituru Koizumi³

¹Department of Breast Surgery, Cancer Institute Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

²Department of Cytology, Cancer Institute Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

³Department of Radiology, Cancer Institute Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

author email corresponding author email

World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2006, 4:26doi:10.1186/1477-7819-4-26

Published:	17 May 2006

Abstract

Background

A standard intra-operative procedure for assessing sentinel lymph node metastasis in breast cancer patients has not yet been established.

Patients and methods

One hundred and thirty-eight patients with stage I breast cancer who underwent sentinel node biopsy using both imprint cytology and frozen section were analyzed.

Results

Seventeen of the 138 patients had sentinel node involvement. Results of imprint cytology included nine false negative cases (sensitivity, 47.1%). In contrast, only two cases of false negatives were found on frozen section (sensitivity, 88.2%). There were two false positive cases identified by imprint cytology (specificity, 98.3%). On the other hand, frozen section had 100% specificity.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that frozen section is superior to imprint cytology for the intra-operative determination of sentinel lymph node metastasis in stage I breast cancer patients.