This was a prospective cohort study carried out on 312 patients with early breast cancer without axillary lymph node involvement. It was carried out in the teaching medical centers of the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran, between February 2010 and December 2012.
The patients were divided into two groups according to the type of dye selection (156 in each group). This study was performed in two centers with the same surgery team that also participated in our research. One type of blue dye is used more in each center based on availability. After admission to the hospital, the patients randomly received one of the blue dyes.
Patients with a diagnosis of breast cancer (diagnosed by needle biopsy or open surgical biopsy) with T1, T2 (tumor size <5 cm), without axillary lymph node involvement in a clinical exam, were enrolled in the study. They were divided into two groups according to the type of dye injection. Patients with T3, T4, and inflammatory cancers, and palpable axillary lymphatic nodes, including pregnant patients, those who were going to have an axillary surgery, male patients, and those with a history of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy were not included.
All patients received a preoperative intradermal injection of technetium-99 m-phytate in the periareolar area and had a subsequent lymphoscintigraphy in our nuclear medicine department the morning of the surgery. Then, in the operating room the surgeon injected 2 cc of blue dye in the subareolar before the procedure.
The patients were divided into two groups according to the type of dye selection (156 in each group). This study was performed in two centers with the same surgery team that also participated in our research. One type of blue dye is used more in each center based on availability. After admission to the hospital, the patients randomly received one of the blue dyes.
Patients with a diagnosis of breast cancer (diagnosed by needle biopsy or open surgical biopsy) with T1, T2 (tumor size <5 cm), without axillary lymph node involvement in a clinical exam, were enrolled in the study. They were divided into two groups according to the type of dye injection. Patients with T3, T4, and inflammatory cancers, and palpable axillary lymphatic nodes, including pregnant patients, those who were going to have an axillary surgery, male patients, and those with a history of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy were not included.
All patients received a preoperative intradermal injection of technetium-99 m-phytate in the periareolar area and had a subsequent lymphoscintigraphy in our nuclear medicine department the morning of the surgery. Then, in the operating room the surgeon injected 2 cc of blue dye in the subareolar before the procedure.
