Ultrasound Morphology of Axillary Lymph Nodes as a Non-invasive Alternative to Detect Metastasis in Early Breast Cancer

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The axillary lymph node status is the most important prognostic factor in early stage breast cancer.A sentinel lymph node biopsy determines whether axillary node dissection is necessary.The use of the operating room and the administration of radioisotopes are also costs associated with this operation.As a result, patients with nodal metastases that could lead to axillary dissection should be identified before surgery.Axillary ultrasound is widely being used to determine nodal status prior to surgery.It has been shown to be a receptive and accurate modality for detecting nodal metastases.When combined with fine-needle aspiration, this modality's precision is greatly improved.This article discusses preoperative axillary ultrasound (PAUS) in early and locally advanced breast cancer patients with and without fine-needle aspiration biopsy.Based on this analysis, we estimate the proportion of patients who would be able to escape a sentinel lymph node biopsy, as well as the cost benefit of axillary ultrasound.