Objective:

To explore the application value of multimodal ultasound in preoperative diagnosis of sentinel lymph node characteristics in breast cancer.

Methods:

The characteristics of ultrasound and contrast-enhanced images of sentinel lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer which confirmed by pathology in the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Unive

rsity of Chinese Medicine from June 2018 to July 2021 were analyzed retrospectively to compare the diagnostic efficacy of conventional ultrasound

translymphatic and transvenous contrast-enhanced ultrasound

and the combination of three techniques in sentinel lymph nodes.

Results:

A total of 122 breast cancer patients with 122 sentinel lymph nodes pathologically showing 27 sentinel lymph nodes with metastasis and 95 without metastasis were included. The sensitivity

specificity

positive predictive value

and accuracy of the conventional ultrasound group were 70.37%

84.21%

55.88%

81.14%. The sensitivity

specificity

positive predictive value

and accuracy of the translymphatic group were 66.67%

93.68%

75.00%

87.70%. The sensitivity

specificity

positive predictive value

and accuracy of the transvenous group were 44.44%

94.74%

70.59%

83.61%. And those of the combination group were 77.80%

75.79%

47.73%

76.23%. According to the diagnostic efficiency between different groups

the specificity of the translymphatic group and the transvenous group was significantly different from that of the conventional ultrasound group and the combination group

respectively. There was a significant difference in the positive predictive value between the translymphatic group and the combination group; There was a significant difference in accuracy between the translymphatic group and the combination group (

P

＜0.05).

Conclusion:

Multimodal ultrasound can provide a higher diagnostic value in preoperative evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer.