Accuracy Rate of Methylene Blue Injection in Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Early-Stage Breast Cancer Patients: A Prospective Observational Study

Abstract

Objective Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women and can spread to the lymph nodes in the axilla. The sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node to be targeted for the spread or metastasis of cancer cells involving the lymph nodes. The aim of this study is to compare the accuracy rate of methylene blue injection into sentinel lymph nodes in early-stage breast cancer patients who have undergone incisional and excisional biopsies. Methods This is a prospective observational study conducted in two general hospitals in West Java, Indonesia. The research subjects in this study were early-stage breast cancer patients with no lymph node metastasis (N0) who had undergone a biopsy. There were 83 study subjects included in this study. The sentinel lymph node biopsy was taken after injection of methylene blue into the peritumoral area. Blue nodes in the axilla were marked as positive lymph node biopsy results and sent for histopathology examination. Results Patients who underwent excisional biopsy surgery had a sensitivity rate of 85.3% and a specificity of 93.3%, while the accuracy rate in patients who underwent incisional biopsy surgery had a sensitivity rate of 79.2% and a specificity of 80%. Conclusion There was no difference in the accuracy of SLNB using methylene blue in patients with early-stage breast cancer with N0 who had a history of incisional and excisional biopsy.