Ex Vivo Shear-Wave Elastography of Axillary Lymph Nodes to Predict Nodal Metastasis in Patients with Primary Breast Cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

There is still a clinical need to easily evaluate the metastatic status of lymph nodes during breast cancer surgery. We hypothesized that ex vivo shear-wave elastography (SWE) would predict precisely the presence of metastasis in the excised lymph nodes.

Methods

A total of 63 patients who underwent breast cancer surgery were prospectively enrolled in this study from May 2014 to April 2015. The excised axillary lymph nodes were examined using ex vivo SWE. Metastatic status was confirmed based on the final histopathological diagnosis of the permanent section. Lymph node characteristics and elasticity values measured by ex vivo SWE were assessed for possible association with nodal metastasis.

Results

A total of 274 lymph nodes, harvested from

SUBMITTER: Bae SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6015987 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature