Study on the application of ultrasonography in sentinel limpth nodes detection for breast cancer

Objective: To investigate the success rate of ultrasound imaging in axillary sentinel limpth node (SLNs) detection by subcutaneous injection of ultrasound contrast agents. Methods: The ultrasonography were performed in 26 patients with breast cancer, and 1.0 ml of ultrasound contrast agent were injected subcutaneously around breast tumors(at 12,3,6,9 o' clock position) with the microbubbles of SonoVue. The nodes were considered as SLNs and positioned when the contrast agents were found in one or numbers of lymph nodes by real-time imaging. The SLNs were isolate and dissected during the surgery,and the success rates of ultrasound imaging were evaluate according to the pathological examination. Results: In all patients,the SLNs were detected in 23 cases,and 22 cases of them were confirmed by pathological examination,the success rate of ultrasound imaging was 84.62% (22/26). Conclusions: Contrastenhanced ultrasonography may be a useful method for SLNs detection.