Impact of sentinel lymph node biopsy in newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer patients with suspicious node: a comparative accuracy survey of fine-needle aspiration biopsy versus core-needle biopsy.

Comparing diagnostic accuracy study between ultrasonography (US) guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and core-needle biopsy (CNB) of the Sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer patients. We selected 289 newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer patients from June 2015 to July 2017. Ultrasound (US) guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNA) and core-needle biopsy (CNB) was performed to identify patients with suspicious sentinel lymph node (SLN). Patients with a cortical thickness > 2 mm or atypical morphological characteristics were recommended FNA and CNB. Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) was applied to patients with biopsy-proven metastasis, and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) was applied to FNA or CNB negative patients. ALND was also performed when SNB is positive. Out of 289 patients, only 131 patients met final study criteria. Lymph node status was evaluated by FNA, CNB, SLND, and ALND. Among 131 patients, 45 were deemed positive for metastasis and 86 were determined to be negative with CNB, whereas 38 were deemed positive for metastasis and 93 were determined to be negative by using FNAB. CNB was used to correctly identify seven axillae as positive for metastasis that were deemed negative by using FNAB. There were no positive FNAB results in axillae that were negative for metastasis with CNB. All patients underwent SLNB and those with biopsy-proved axillary metastases were assigned directly to ALND as the primary staging procedure. The final histopathologic assessment indicated that 50 (38.2%) of the 131 axillae studied had axillary LN metastases. Axillary US-guided CNB was used to correctly identify 45 (90.0%) of the 50 LN-positive axillae, whereas axillary US-guided FNAB was used to correctly identify 38 (76.0%, P < 0. 001). There were no false-positive results. CNB netted 5 false-negative results, and FNAB resulted in 12. There was significantly different accuracy between different diagnostic tools. In our study, we demonstrated that CNB is a more reliable approach than FNA for the preoperative diagnosis of SLN metastasis.