Table 2 Comparison of different detection methods for breast cancer sentinel lymph-node metastases

From: Multimarker RT–PCR assay for the detection of minimal residual disease in sentinel lymph nodes of breast cancer patients

Method

Total positive

% Positive a

Absolute sensitivity increase (%)

Relative sensitivity increaseb (%)

H&E

6

20.0

0

0

IHC

8

26.7

6.7

33.3

RT–PCR

15

50.0

30.0

150.0

  1. aPercentage of positive nodes out of all nodes analysed (N=30).
  2. bPercentage increase in positive nodes detected using number of nodes detected by H&E as a baseline (N=6).
  3. H&E=haematoxilyn and eosin stain; IHC=immunohistochemistry stain for cytokertain; RT–PCR=reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction.
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