Touch Imprint Cytology Evaluation of Sentinel Lymph Node in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Blue dye lymphatic mapping by peritumoral injection of methylene blue was found to be accurate and cost effective for SLN identification. It avoids the expenses of lymphoscintiscanning, which requires special infrastructure and expertise with a significant learning curve. The identified SLN can, with reasonable accuracy, be assessed for metastasis by TIC. The frequently used method of frozen section requires a cryostat and a pathologist trained in the technique. Additionally scanty SLN tissue can be wasted in the cryostat and freezing artifacts can be introduced in the imprint, both of which are avoided by TIC.