• Ga Ram Kim, Ji Soo Choi, Boo-Kyung Han, Jeong Eon Lee, Seok Jin Nam, Eun Young Ko, Eun Sook Ko, and Se Kyung Lee.
• From the Department of Radiology, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Republic of Korea (G.R.K.); and Departments of Radiology (J.S.C., B.K.H., E.Y.K., E.S.K.) and Surgery (J.E.L., S.J.N., S.K.L.), Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Irwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seou 137-710, Republic of Korea.
• Radiology. 2018 Jul 1; 288 (1): 55-63.

AbstractPurpose To evaluate the value of preoperative axillary ultrasonography (US) for preventing unnecessary axillary lymph node dissection after sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in a large series of patients with early-stage breast cancers treated with both breast-conserving surgery and SLN biopsy. Materials and Methods From March 2009 to February 2013, 1802 patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery for clinical T1-2/N0 cancers and SLN biopsy with or without axillary lymph node dissection were included. Preoperative axillary US results and clinical-pathologic variables were compared according to the status of non-SLN metastasis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to find factors associated with non-SLN metastasis. Results Of 1802 patients, 397 (22.0%) underwent axillary lymph node dissection due to positive SLN biopsy and 76 (4.2%) had non-SLN metastasis at final histopathologic examination. Patients with non-SLN metastasis were younger and showed positive axilla at US and clinical T2 stage more frequently (P < .05). At multivariate analysis, positive axilla at US (P = .001), clinical T2 stage (P = .005), and lymphovascular invasion (P < .001) were significantly associated with non-SLN metastasis. Among 1284 patients with negative axilla at US and clinical T1 stage cancer, 1254 (97.7%) did not have non-SLN metastasis and 30 (2.3%) had non-SLN metastasis. Conclusion Preoperative axillary US results and clinical T stage are associated with the status of non-SLN metastasis in patients with early breast cancer. The results of this study suggest that preoperative axillary US can help select patients at minimal risk of non-SLN metastasis, for whom axillary lymph node dissection can be omitted. © RSNA, 2018 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

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