Author(s)

Hugo Enrique Orsini Beserra¹, Fabrizio Grandi^1,2, Rozany Mucha Dufloth², Luiz Gonzaga Porto Pinheiro³, Hélio Amante Miot⁴, Stephane Cássia Oliveira Rosa Vexenat^1*, Noeme Sousa Rocha^1,2

¹Department of Veterinary Clinics, Service of Veterinary Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil.
²Department of Pathology, Botucatu Medical School, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil.
³Department of Surgery, Medical School, Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza, Brazil.
⁴Department Dermatology, Botucatu Medical School, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil.

In recent years the development of extremely accurate techniques for the removal of lymph nodes has been seen, such as the Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy (SLNB) technique. The technique is based on the staggered progression occurring in the lymphatic drainage of neoplasias, and is currently the main prognostic and diagnostic factor in women suffering from mammary carcinoma. This research aims at assessing the sentinel lymph node biopsy accuracy in female dogs suffering from mammary carcinoma. Forty-one dogs with cytological diagnosis of the tumor were used in the research. After injecting a Patent Blue V dye, mastectomy was conducted jointly with lymphadenectomy (for both sentinel and non-sentinel lymph nodes). The material was then serially sectioned and microscopically evaluated by routine H&E stain and immunohistochemical study with the markers for pancytokeratin AE1/AE3 and myoepithelial cells CK14. The study revealed that 46.3% (19/41) of the animals presented nodal metastasis. The sensitivity and specificity values found for SLNB were respectively 89.5% and 100%, with a kappa coefficient of 0.90 and p < 0.0001. Therefore, the SLNB technique offers high sensitivity in the early detection of metastases, allowing higher precision in the staging of oncological patients and, therefore, offering higher chances of survival.

Metastasis, Sentinel Lymph Node, Mammary Neoplasia, Patent Blue, Female Dog

Beserra, H. , Grandi, F. , Dufloth, R. , Pinheiro, L. , Miot, H. , Vexenat, S. and Rocha, N. (2016) Metastasis of Mammary Carcinoma in Bitches: Evaluation of the Sentinel Lymph Node Technique. Advances in Breast Cancer Research, 5, 58-65. doi: 10.4236/abcr.2016.52006.