Can Preoperative Ultrasonography and MRI Replace Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Management of Axilla in Early Breast Cancer-a Prospective Study from a Tertiary Cancer Center.

Although SLNB is a less invasive procedure in detecting axillary lymph node metastases(ALNM) in early breast cancer; still, it carries some complications like lymphedema and in addition, performing SLNB requires surgical skills, technical knowledge, presence of facility like preoperative sentinel lymphoscintigraphy, and availability of hand-held gamma probe for intraoperative assessment. We calculated the relative diagnostic strength of preoperative axillary USG and MRI and compared with of SLNB for detection of ALNM in early breast cancer and assessed whether MRI and USG could accurately predict axillary LN status, potentially replacing SLNB. We evaluated 40 cases of clinically node-negative early breast cancer with preoperative axillary USG and MRI and subsequently subjected to SLNB.