DOI: 10.36347/sasjs.2021.v07i11.014

Pages: 702-707

Background: In the treatment arena of oncology, there has been growing interests in developing the clinical prediction tools to estimate the risk and severity of patients with breast cancer having axillary nodal metastases. Clinical examination and ultrasonography (USG) for the assessment of axillary lymph node status in breast cancer patients is a traditional diagnostic method in detecting breast cancer and its status. But we have very limited research-based data regarding the effectiveness of clinical examination and USG for the assessment of axillary lymph node status in breast cancer patients. Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of clinical examination and ultrasonography for the assessment of axillary lymph node status in breast cancer patients. Methods: This was a prospective observational study conducted in the Department Surgery & Oncology, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, BSMMU & NICRH Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from January 2014 to December 2015. In total 100 patients of several age groups with breast cancer patients attended, diagnosed and treated in the mentioned hospital were selected as the study population. Proper clinical examination and ultrasonography for the assessment of axillary lymph node status were done for every participant. All data were processed, analyzed by MS Office and SPSS program as per need. Results: According to the validity test, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy and likelihood ratio (LR) of the clinical examination in assessment of auxiliary lymph node status in breast cancer patients were 53.7%, 85.0%, 93.5%, 31.5%, 60.0% and 3.58% respectively. As per the validity test, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy and likelihood ratio (LR) of the USG in assessment of auxiliary lymph node status in breast cancer patients were 73.8%, 85.0%, 95.2%, 44.7%, 76.0% and 4.91 respectively.