Hookwire-guided Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Using Contrast-enhanced Ultrasonography Followed by a One-step Nucleic Acid Amplification (OSNA) Assay for Breast Cancer.

Aim: To investigate the feasibility of hookwire-guided sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) using contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) followed by a one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) assay.
Patients and Methods: Clinical T1-2N0M0 breast cancer patients scheduled to undergo SLNB participated in this study. Both Sonazoid® and dye were used as tracers, and the most upstream sentinel lymph node (SLN) at each lymphatic flow detected by CEUS (First-SLN) was sampled under hookwire guidance, a procedure called "Sona-Hook".
Results: In each of the 50 cases, at least one First-SLN was extracted by "Sona-Hook". All contrast-enhanced SLNs (CE-SLNs) were dye-positive, and the mean number of CE-SLNs sampled per patient was lower than that of dye-positive SLNs (1.48 vs. 1.88, p<0.01). Through OSNA, qualitative assessment of tumor metastasis between First-SLNs and all SLNs completely matched together.
Conclusion: "Sona-Hook" for First-SLN followed by an OSNA assay may be a feasible minimally invasive SLNB strategy.
(Copyright© 2019, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)