Our multi-centric trial using the OSNA assay for sentinel node evaluation in breast cancer demonstrates that this is a highly sensitive, specific and reproducible technique that allows for standardization of the SN diagnostic procedure, a necessary, and until now unresolved, issue.

SLN TTL permits the differentiation between two patient groups in terms of DFS and OS, independently of axillary staging (pN), age and tumour characteristics (size, grade, lymphovascular invasion). This new data confirms the clinical value of low axillary involvement and could partially replace the information that staging of the entire axilla provides in patients on whom no axillary lymph node dissection is performed.

Stage I–II (pN0) colorectal cancer patients are surgically treated although up to 25 % will eventually die from disease recurrence. Lymph node (LN) status is an independent prognostic factor in colorectal cancer (CRC), and molecular tumour detection in LN of early-stage CRC patients is associated with an increased risk of disease recurrence and poor survival. This prospective multicentre study aimed to determine the relationship between LN molecular tumour burden and conventional high-risk factors in stage I–II colon cancer patients. A total of 1940 LN from 149 pathologically assessed pN0 colon cancer patients were analysed for the amount of tumour cytokeratin 19 (CK19) messenger RNA (mRNA) with the quantitative reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification molecular assay One-Step Nucleic Acid Amplification. Patient’s total tumour load (TTL) resulted from the sum of all CK19 mRNA tumour copies/μL of each positive LN from the colectomy specimen. A median of 15 LN were procured per case (IQR 12;20). Molecular positivity correlated with high-grade (p < 0.01), mucinous/signet ring type (p = 0.017), male gender (p = 0.02), number of collected LN (p = 0.012) and total LN weight per case (p < 0.01). The TTL was related to pT stage (p = 0.01) and tumour size (p < 0.01) in low-grade tumours. Multivariate logistic regression showed independent correlation of molecular positivity with gender, tumour grade and number of fresh LN [AUC = 0.71 (95 % CI = 0.62–0.79)]. Our results show that lymph node CK19 mRNA detection correlates with classical high-risk factors in stage I–II colon cancer patients. Total tumour load is a quantitative and objective measure that may help to better stage early colon cancer patients.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00428-016-1990-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundsTumor-positive sentinel node(SLN) biopsy results in a risk of nonsentinel node metastases in case of micro and macro metastases ranging from 20 to 50 %, respectively. Therefore, most patients underwent unnecessary axillary lymph node dissections.Thus, the development of a mathematical model for predicting patient-specific risk of non sentinel node(NSLN) metastases is strongly warranted.MethodsThe following parameters were recorded:Clinical: hospital, age, medical record numberBio-pathological: tumor (T) size, grading (G), multifocality, histological type, LVI, ER-PR status, HER-2, ki67, molecular classification (luminal A, luminal B, HER2 like, triple negative)Sentinel and nonsentinel lymph node related: number of removed SLNs, number of positive and negative SLNs, copy number of positive sentinel nodes, ratio: number of positive SLNs to number of removed SLNs, number of removed and number of positive nodes after ALND. A total of 2460 patients have been included in the database.All the patients have been provided by the authors of this paper.ResultsMultivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that only the number of a CK19 mRNA copies (p < 0.0001), T size (p < 0.0001) and LVI (p < 0.0001) were associated with NSN metastases.The discrimination of the model, quantified with the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve, was 0.71 (95 %, C.I. 0.69–0.73), thus confirming a good level of reliability.ConclusionsThe nomogram may be employed by the surgeon as a decision making tool on whether to perform an intraoperative axillary lymph node dissection on breast cancer patients with SLN positive.The large population employed and the standardized method of measuring the value of CK19 mRNA copies are appropiate prerequisites for a reliable nomogram.