ArticleGland surgery2021
Predictive risk factors for sentinel lymph node metastasis using preoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasound in early-stage breast cancer patients.
Article in Gland surgery, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prediction of sentinel lymph node status in patients with early breast cancer using breast imaging as an alternative to surgical staging-a systematic review and meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound for sentinel lymph node metastasis in breast cancer: an updated meta-analysis.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2023Pooled it
- Diagnostic efficacy of sentinel lymph node in breast cancer under percutaneous contrast-enhanced ultrasound: An updated meta-analysis.Thoracic cancer · 2021Pooled it
- Diagnosis of axillary lymph node metastasis in breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature on ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging published from 2014 to 2025.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2026Article
- Diagnostic value of different contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) methods for sentinel lymph node metastasis in patients with breast neoplasms: a meta-analysis and indirect comparison.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2025Article
- Association and predictive value of contrast‑enhanced ultrasound features with axillary lymph node metastasis in primary breast cancer.Oncology letters · 2024Article
- Multimodal ultrasound imaging: a method to improve the accuracy of sentinel lymph node diagnosis in breast cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- The benefits of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the differential diagnosis of suspicious breast lesions.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- The application of contrast-enhanced ultrasound for sentinel lymph node evaluation and mapping in breast cancer patients.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2023Article
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6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is the standard procedure for axillary staging in clinically node-negative (cN0) breast cancer patients. The positive rate of SLNs in cN0 stage patients ranges from 20.5% to 25.5%, so identifying appropriate candidates for SLNB is quite challenging. The aims of this study were to assess whether contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) could be utilized to noninvasively predict SLN metastasis, and to explore the predictive value of the involved factors.
methodsBetween May 2016 and May 2018, 217 consenting breast cancer patients undergoing SLNB were enrolled. Before the surgery, CEUS was utilized to identify the SLNs, and predict whether metastasis had occurred according to their enhancement pattern. Blue dye was also used to identify the SLNs during SLNB. The rates of identification and accuracy of both methods were recorded. The predictive outcomes of SLNs identified by CEUS were recorded and compared with the pathological diagnosis.
resultsOf the 217 cases, SLNs in 212 cases were successfully identified, comprising 208 cases identified by CEUS and 206 cases by blue dye, with no significant difference between the two methods (P=0.6470). A total of 78 cases were predicted SLN-positive preoperatively by CEUS, comprising 61 cases of SLN metastasis confirmed by pathology and 17 cases of no SLN metastasis, and 130 cases were predicted SLN-negative by CEUS, comprising 6 cases of SLN metastasis and 124 cases of no SLN metastasis. The sensitivity of CEUS preoperative prediction was 91.0%, the specificity was 87.9%, the positive and negative predictive values were 78.2% and 95.4%, respectively, and the accuracy was 88.9%. The maximum diameter size of positive SLNs predicted by CEUS was greater than that of negative SLNs (mean value 1.67±0.06
conclusionsCEUS accurately identified SLNs and can be used to noninvasively predict SLN metastasis in early-stage breast cancer patients. However, the primary tumor size and the SLN size should not be overlooked by clinicians when judging the status of SLNs. This novel method may be a recommended strategy for identifying appropriate SLNB candidates.
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