Punción con aguja fina guiada por ultrasonido en metástasis axilares de cáncer de mama

objective: in this work we present our updated experience on the fine needle aspiration puncture in patients with breast cancer. method: our experience in 399 patients with breast cancer, evaluated from january 2007 through july of 2009. the protocol of this work imposes a puncture ecoguide at any axillaries lymph node, were suspicion or not. ultrasound equipment is used solely dedicated to the exploration of the breast, transducers multifrecuenciales and use of software in a particular way when the exploration of the axils needed and to improve the ultrasound image of the area. results: in 55.89 % of patients (223/399) axillaries lymph nodes were identified for ultrasound and underwent fine needle aspiration puncture. of the 223 patients 51.12 % (114/223) metastases was identified. 1.26 % (92/223) fine needle puncture was negative in 7.62% (17/223) was suggestive but not conclusive. regarding clinical tumor size, the metastases diagnosis was 34.61 % (9 / 26) of t1 and 46.6 % (42/90) of t2 tumors. when the tumor size was determined by ultrasound, the axillaries metastases were identified in 40.00 % (32/80) of t1 size tumors and 57.8 % (59/102) of t2. conclusions: the gained experience, added to proper management of the ultrasounds equipment, has allowed us to identify more frequently in those patients axillaries lymph nodes. it is important to study the nodes independently of their morphological characteristics, as the metastatic cells may be present without causing any alteration in appearance ultrasonic graphically.