Table 2.

SLN identification results

Characteristic	Total (n = 24)	Patent blue (n = 12)	No patent blue (n = 12)	P
No. of SLNs identified	37	19	18
No. of SLNs identified per patient				0.54
0	1 (4 %)	0 (0 %)	1 (8 %)
1	12 (50 %)	7 (58 %)	5 (42 %)
2	9 (38 %)	4 (33 %)	5 (42 %)
3	1 (4 %)	1 (8 %)	0 (0 %)
4	1 (4 %)	0 (0 %)	1 (8 %)
No. of SLNs identified, average ± SD	1.5 ± 0.8	1.6 ± 0.7	1.5 ± 1.0	0.81
Method of detection
Radioactive	35 (95 %)	17 (89 %)	18 (100 %)
Blue	16 (84 %)	16 (84 %)	0 (0 %)
Fluorescent	37 (100 %)	19 (100 %)	18 (100 %)
SBR	9.2 ± 4.8	8.3 ± 3.8	10.3 ± 5.7	0.32
Percutaneous lymph drainage visualization				0.84
Yes	12 (50 %)	6 (50 %)	6 (50 %)
Partial	7 (29 %)	4 (33 %)	3 (25 %)
No	5 (21 %)	2 (17 %)	3 (25 %)
Time between injection and skin incision (min), average ± SD	14.8 ± 3.3	15.2 ± 3.0	13.8 ± 3.9	0.17
Time between skin incision and SLN resection (min), average ± SD	12.2 ± 7.9	12.4 ± 7.7	18.1 ± 18.9	0.35
Histology of SLN				0.10
Negative	16 (67 %)	(50 %)	10 (83 %)
Isolated tumor cells	4 (17 %)	(33 %)	0 (0 %)
Micrometastases	2 (8 %)	0 (0 %)	2 (17 %)
Macrometastases	2 (8 %)	2 (17 %)	0 (0 %)
Axillary lymph node dissection				0.14
No	22 (92 %)	10 (83 %)	12 (100 %)
Yes	2 (8 %)	2 (17 %)	0 (0 %)