Sentinel node biopsy in the surgical management of breast cancer: experience in a general hospital with a dedicated surgical team

The aims of this study were to analyse the feasibility and accuracy of the sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) procedure as performed in a general hospital compared with the literature results; to report on the organizational aspects of planning surgical time with higher accuracy of pathological analysis; and to verify that there is a real advantage of SLNB in the surgical management of breast cancer. From October 1999 to September 2000, 371 consecutive patients with T1-2N0 breast lesions underwent SLNB. The immunoscintigraphic method of sentinel node identification was the main one used, the blue dye method being used only when the lymphoscintigraphic method was unsuccessful in identifying sentinel nodes. SLNB was done under either general or local anaesthesia, depending on how the surgical procedure was organized and clinically planned. SLNB was successful in 99% of these T1-2N0 breast cancer cases, and in 71% no metastases were found in the sentinel node. In 47% of cases with axillary metastasis only the sentinel node was involved. Nodal involvement was not present in any case of microinvasive or in situ carcinoma. In T1 cancers nodal involvement was present in 21%; in T2 cases the corresponding rate reached 51%. The results obtained with the SLNB procedure at Bergamo Hospital are similar to the literature data. When a dedicated surgical team, the nuclear medicine department and the pathology department work together, a general hospital can provide breast cancer patients with appropriate surgical treatment.

Population-based sentinel lymph node biopsy in early invasive breast cancer

INTRODUCTION

Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has been proposed as a reliable method for staging of early invasive breast cancer (EIBC). In the present study we analyse the impact of this procedure when systematically applied to all unselected women of a community-based Breast Cancer Unit (BCU).

METHODS

All consecutive women with unifocal cT1-2 (<or=3 cm) cN0 EIBC diagnosed at our BCU were considered for radiocolloid sentinel node localisation and biopsy.

RESULTS

Only 387 of all consecutive 542 patients met eligibility criteria for SLNB. Reasons for ineligibility included tumour size, palpable axillary nodes, plurifocality and/or multicentricity, and refusal to undergo the procedure. Successful SLNB was performed in 362 patients (94% of those eligible), but in 108 of these axillary dissection (AD) had to be performed anyway, mainly because of SLN-positivity. Therefore, SLNB ultimately allowed sparing axillary dissection in 256 patients out of the entire population of women with EIBC.

CONCLUSIONS

Radiocolloid-guided SLNB, when appropriately applied in the context of a population-based service, can help in sparing unnecessary AD, with its related costs and morbidity, in approximately half of all women presenting with EIBC. In absolute terms, in the EU this could result in approximately 100,000 unnecessary AD avoided each year.

Bronchial carcinoid tumours: a study on clinicopathological features and role of octreotide scintigraphy

Several authors proposed the stage at diagnosis and some histopathological features as prognostic factors of bronchial carcinoids. However, since large tumour diameters or nodal metastases are frequently associated to aggressive histology, their prognostic role is unclear. To investigate the relationships between the clinicopathological parameters at diagnosis and outcome, 21 patients were analysed. Overall 26% of the radically resected patients recurred. Recurrences and disease-specific mortality were related to atypical histology and, only in cases with typical histology, to the presence of hilar or mediastinal lymph node metastases. These prognostic factors were valuable independently of the size of the primary tumour, that was remarkably homogeneous, always less than 3 cm, thus not predictive of recurrence. Moreover we evaluated the role of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy, a diagnostic tool only preliminary studied in this field. Scintigraphy with 111In-octreotide revealed the primary tumours at diagnosis (8/8), the increase in tumour size in two unresected patients, and all the cases of recurrent or metastatic disease (5/11), sometimes before the appearance of symptoms. These results suggest the usefulness of histology and nodal status as prognostic factors in clinical practice. Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy turns out to be a powerful diagnostic tool, for an accurate staging and an early diagnosis of recurrence in bronchial carcinoids.

Meta-[123I]iodobenzylguanidine single photon emission computed tomography in chemodectomas

Chemodectoma is a rare, slow growing neoplasm with local aggressiveness and a high rate of residuals after surgery, arising from paraganglionic tissue (neural crest) and therefore able to take up Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG). The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 123I-MIBG Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) in comparison to Selective Digital Angiography (SDA), Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). We studied 50 patients (41 women, 9 men) mean age 56 years (range 14-79), with diagnostic suspicion of chemodectoma (CH). There were 2 groups of patients: Group A (26 patients) examined before Surgery and Group B (24 patients) examined after surgery. SPECT of the head and neck region was performed 4 hours after i.v. administration of 185 MBq of 123I-MIBG. All patients were pre-treated with iodine solution. We performed a qualitative evaluation of the reconstructed slices. In Group A, all patients with CH (24) showed accumulation of MIBG in agreement with SDA, CT and MRI: 2 patients (histologically one had a cordoma, the other metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma), did not show any accumulation of 123I-MIBG. In Group B, 6 patients showed accumulation of 123I-MIBG in local residuals, and 9 were negative. Six patients with a lesion smaller than 1.5 cm were negative. Three patients had a positive scan but no lesion on SDA, CT and MRI. 123I-MIBG SPECT proved to be useful procedure in the diagnosis of untreated CH. During follow-up after surgery this procedure may assume a role in the perspective of radiometabolic therapy with 131I-MIBG.

Cardiac function study in hard metal workers

The induction of cardiac effects in hard metal workers is uncertain. This study investigates cardiac function of a group of 31 hard metal workers with or without pulmonary disease. The average duration of exposure to cobalt containing dusts was 10.4 years (range 1-30), while the environmental levels of cobalt exposure ranged from 0.09 to 13.6 mg/m3 Co. Cardiac function has been studied by: ECG (electrocardiogram), exercise test (ET), ECG 24 h according to Holter (ECGH), echocardiogram (ECHO) and radionuclide angiocardiography with 99Tc (RNA). The aims of this work were (i) to show the existence of cobalt myocardiopathy in the workers analyzed and, (ii) to find an early indicator of cardiac dysfunction which could be used in the clinical examination of hard metal workers. Within the group of patients with hard metal lung disease, cases of myocardiopathy of doubtful aetiology have been found. The cardiac indexes obtained through RNA show ventricular dysfunction in healthy hard metal workers which could be a manifestation of initial pulmonary artery hypertension or of an early occult cor pulmonale due to an unknown fibrotic lung disease.

Abnormal uptake of technetium-99m hexakis-2-methoxyisobutylisonitrile in a primary cardiac lymphoma

Abnormally high uptake of technetium-99m hexakis-2-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (99mTc-SESTAMIBI) in the right ventricle and in the septum was observed in a 47-year-old woman initially presenting with dysarthria and left hemiparesis. Endomyocardial biopsy demonstrated a high-grade malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Complete remission was achieved by combined cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (CHOP) chemotherapy and radiotherapy of the heart and mediastinum. The post-remission single photon emission tomography (SPET) 99mTc-SESTAMIBI study showed a homogeneous distribution pattern, in agreement with echocardiography computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Increased uptake of 99mTc-SESTAMIBI, a myocardial perfusion agent, has been observed in some benign and malignant tumours. It may prove to be useful in the diagnosis and follow-up of malignancies.