Department of Surgery, Albert Schweitzer Hospital, P.O. Box 444, NL-3300 AK Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Abstract
AIMS: To investigate the duration of staining of the skin after intradermal injection of patent blue during sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for breast cancer. METHODS: The clinical data of 33 consecutive patients who underwent a SLNB in combination with breast conserving therapy (BCT) in our hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Also, patients were interviewed at intervals of 3 months until the blue staining of their skin had disappeared. RESULTS: At mean follow-up of 18 months (range: 12-28) patent blue was visible at the site of injection after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months in 70, 64, 44 and 41% of the patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Use of the intradermal injection technique of patent blue during sentinel lymph node biopsy in BCT may result in remarkably long discolouring of the skin at the site of injection.