Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26631071›Full record

ArticleBMC women's health2015

Fine needle aspiration cytology of lymph nodes in breast cancer follow-up is a feasible alternative to watchful waiting and to histology.

Matthias Hammon, Peter Dankerl, Rolf Janka, David L Wachter, Arndt Hartmann, Rüdiger Schulz-Wendtland, Michael Uder, Evelyn Wenkel

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC women's health, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 38% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Matthias HammonDepartment of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Maximiliansplatz 1, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. matthias.hammon@uk-erlangen.de.
Peter DankerlDepartment of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Maximiliansplatz 1, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. peter.dankerl@uk-erlangen.de.
Rolf JankaDepartment of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Maximiliansplatz 1, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. rolf.janka@uk-erlangen.de.
David L WachterDepartment of Pathology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany. david.wachter@uk-erlangen.de.
Arndt HartmannDepartment of Pathology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany. arndt.hartmann@uk-erlangen.de.
Rüdiger Schulz-WendtlandDepartment of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Maximiliansplatz 1, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. ruediger.schulz-wendtland@uk-erlangen.de.
Michael UderDepartment of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Maximiliansplatz 1, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. michael.uder@uk-erlangen.de.
Evelyn WenkelDepartment of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Maximiliansplatz 1, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. evelyn.wenkel@uk-erlangen.de.
Universitätsklinikum Erlangen · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEarly detection of loco-regional breast cancer recurrence improves patients' overall survival, as treatment can be initiated or active treatment can be changed. If a suspicious lymph node is diagnosed during a follow-up exam, surgical excision is often performed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the minor invasive ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in sonomorphologically suspicious lymph nodes in breast cancer follow-up.

methodsBetween April 2010 and November 2012, we performed ultrasound-guided FNAC in 38 sonographically suspicious lymph nodes of 37 breast cancer follow-up patients. Cytological specimens were evaluated if the sample material was sufficient for diagnosis and if they contained cancer cells. Patients with negative cytology were followed up clinically and sonographically. To evaluate the diagnostic performance we calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) for physical examination, the different sonomorphological malignancy criteria and FNAC.

resultsIn 36/38 (94.7 %) lymph nodes, the pathologist had enough material to establish a final diagnosis; in 2/38 (5.3 %) lymph nodes, the probe material was non-evaluable during cytology, these 2 were excluded from further statistical evaluation. Cytology revealed malignancy in 21 lymph nodes and showed no evidence for malignancy in 15 lymph nodes. There was no evidence for malignant disease in follow-up exams in the 15 cytologically benign lymph nodes with an average follow-up time of 3 years. The diagnostic performances of physical examination and FNAC were: Sensitivity 52/100 %, specificity 88/100 %, PPV 85/100 %, NPV 60/100 %, respectively.

conclusionsOur preliminary results show that FNAC is a safe and fast diagnostic approach for the evaluation of suspicious lymph nodes in the follow-up of patients with breast cancer and, thus, together with follow-up represents a feasible alternative to surgery.

Indexed as

AdultBiopsy, Fine-NeedleBreastBreast NeoplasmsCytodiagnosisFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansLymph Node ExcisionLymph NodesMiddle AgedSentinel Lymph Node BiopsyWatchful Waiting

Identifiers

PMID26631071
PMCPMC4668692
OpenAlexW2181655692

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.