Comparison of Clinical Examination under Anaesthesia, Axillary Ultrasound and Histopathological Examination for Axillary Nodal Staging in Women with Clinically No (Zero) Early Breast Cancer: A Prospective Study

Objective: The current study aims to compare the sensitivity and specificity of adding examination under anesthesia (EUA) and axillary ultrasound (AUS) to clinical examination (CE) for axillary lymph node staging in women with clinically node negative carcinoma breast. Material and Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 100 patients coming to the OPD and diagnosed with early breast cancer at tertiary care center from November 2023-October 2024. Results and Conclusions: This study was conducted on cases of clinically N0 breast cancer at tertiary care centre. Collected data was analyzed meticulously and results were compared with similar studies done across the world and following conclusions were drawn. Breast cancer involvement of right breast was 50.54 % and left breast was 49.46 %, hence both breasts were almost equally involved. Majority of the patients i.e. 56.98% were found to be overweight. This study showed that, 63.45 % of the cases had lump in upper outer quadrant, which was the most common location. Majority i.e. (52.68 %) had T2 tumour. This study showed that, axillary ultrasound detected metastatic or suspicious lymph node in 16.30%. Only 4.3 % had palpable Lymph node on examination under anesthesia. In this study majority i.e. 82.80% underwent modified radical mastectomy (MRM) and 17.20% underwent breast conservation surgery (BCS).