Intraoperative Evaluation of Sentinel Lymph Nodes by Touch Imprint Cytology Technique in Breast Cancer Patients

Aims: Axillary lymph nodes evaluation plays an important role in breast cancer surgery. Today and in the sentinel lymph node biopsy era, lymph node metastasis is evaluated by various methods such as Frozen section and Touch imprint cytology each having its pros and cons. Selecting proper method depends on many factors, especially instrument availability. This study was designed to evaluate Touch imprint cytology and Frozen section sensitivity and specificity in detecting sentinel lymph nodes metastasis in breast cancer patients.
Study Design: In a prospective study in 198 early stage (stages 0, 1, 2) breast cancer patients, sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) were evaluated by Frozen section (FS) and Touch imprint cytology (TIC).
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery and Pathology, Parsian Hospital Tehran-Iran, between 2009 and 2012.
Methodology: In 198 early stage (stage 0,1, 2) breast cancer patients, sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) were evaluated by Frozen section (FS) and Touch imprint cytology (TIC).
Results: In 126 metastatic lymph nodes of 69 patients, sensitivity and specificity of FS was 89.5% and 99% respectively while 78% and 99.5% in TIC method.
Conclusion: TIC has acceptable accuracy in detecting SLN metastases in breast cancer patients.