Nodal Status Assessment in Breast Cancer: Strategies of Clinical Grounds and Quality of Life Implications

Table 1

Clinical results and accuracy of non-invasive diagnostic imaging techniques (US, PET-TC, and MRI) in breast cancer assessment of axillary node metastases of studies included in systematic review.

Trial	Evaluable pts	Diagnostic technique	Sensitivity range	Specificity range	FN rate	Selected characteristics
	722	US	64.4–72.7%	44.1–97.9%	7–17.5%	Size criterion; Both palpable/nonpalpable nodes
	706	US	54.7–92.3%	80.4–97.1%	4.2–17.4%	Morphologic criterion; Both palpable/nonpalpable nodes
Alvarez et al.,; 2006 [8]	582	US	48.8–87.1%	55.6–97.3%	5.3–23.1%	Size criterion; Nonpalpable nodes
	708	US	26.4–75.9%	88.4–98.1%	8.4–26.9%	Morphologic criterion; Nonpalpable nodes
	822	US-needle biopsy	25.9–94.9%	96.9–100%	2.3–40.9%	Only needle-biopsied cases
Choi et al., 2012 [9]	483	US	50%	80.7%	3.7–15.5%	Pathologic N-stage classification
Cooper et al.,; 2011 [5]	2591	PET or PET/TC	56–66%	93–96%	7.2%; 0.5%	Sampling methods replaced with PET; PET added to sampling methods
Peare et al.,; 2010 [10]	2460	PET	20–100%	64–100%	13.7%	Staging techniques comparison
Cooper et al.,; 2011 [5]	307	MRI	65–98%	73–100%	1.9%; 0.1%	Sampling methods replaced with MRI; MRI added to sampling methods
Lu et al.,; 2013 [13]	32	MRL	86.2%	95.3%	9%	Enhancement defects criteria Lymphatic vessel dilation study
Kwak et al.,; 2013 [14]	57	US/MRI/PET	82.1%	45.9%	1.85–4.03%	Complete preoperative scanning

MRL: magnetic resonance lymphangiography.