The impact of axillary ultrasound with biopsy in overtreatment of early breast cancer

(a) To compare the axillary tumor burden detected by fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) versus sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). (b) To evaluate the relationship between axillary tumor burden and the number of suspicious lymph nodes detected by axillary ultrasonography (US). (c) To calculate the false-positive and false-negative rates for FNAC in patients fulfilling ACOSOG Z0011 criteria. Retrospective multicenter cross-sectional study of 355 pT1 breast cancers. SLNB and axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) were gold standards. Low axillary burden (≤2 positive lymph nodes); high burden (>2 positive lymph nodes). Patients ACOSOG Z0011: false-positive (positive FNAC+low burden), false-negative (negative FNAC+high burden). High axillary burden: in entire series 38.5% FNAC+ vs. 5.7% SLNB+ (p