Ultrasonography and Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology Can Spare Breast Cancer Patients Unnecessary Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

Abstract Background  Some 30% to 40% of the breast cancer patients scheduled for sentinel node biopsy have axillary metastasis. Pilot studies suggest that ultrasonography is useful in the preoperative detection of such nodes. The aims of this study were to evaluate the sensitivity of preoperative ultrasonography and fine-needle aspiration cytology for detecting axillary metastases and to assess how often sentinel node biopsy could be avoided.