Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology
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Comparative Study
A comparative study on the value of FDG-PET and sentinel node biopsy to identify occult axillary metastases.
Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) has become a standard treatment in staging axillary lymph nodes in early breast cancer. SNB, however, is an invasive procedure and is time-consuming when the sentinel node is analysed intra-operatively. Breast cancer is frequently characterised by increased 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake and many studies have shown encouraging results in detecting axillary lymph node metastases. The aim of this study was to compare SNB and -positron emission tomography (-PET) imaging, to assess their values in detecting occult axillary metastases. ⋯ The high specificity of PET imaging indicates that patients who have a PET-positive axilla should have an ALND rather than an SNB for axillary staging. In contrast, FDG-PET showed poor sensitivity in the detection of axillary metastases, confirming the need for SNB in cases where PET is negative in the axilla.
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Very limited experiences have explored the use of pain intensity monitoring in everyday clinical practice at a medical oncology inpatient unit. ⋯ The systematic monitoring of VAS by nurses at a medical oncology inpatients' ward is feasible with a good patient compliance. The reliability of the procedure in terms of guiding the analgesic treatment has yet to be demonstrated.