Gynaecologists introduce a new metastasis testing method
Bratislava, 23 February 2023: University doctors are the first in Slovakia and the Czech Republic to examine breast cancer patients in a new way. The OSNA method for detecting lymph node metastases was introduced at the 2nd Clinic of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of the Faculty of Medicine of Comenius University and the Bratislava-Ružinov University Hospital, in cooperation with pathologists from UNILABS Slovakia.
In women with negative sentinel nodes (which are likely to be the first to contain metastases), this procedure replaces the original complete axillary lymph node dissection and reduces the number of postoperative complications. A rapid histological examination is used to obtain information on the state of the nodes, but it has shortcomings.
OSNA (One-Step Nucleic Acid Amplification) can process the entire homogenized node and provide more accurate information about the total tumour load as fast as rapid histology. "It can also predict the probability of tumours in the remaining nodes in the armpit. This will also reduce the risks of repeated armpit surgery," explains Kamil Pohlodek from the 2nd. Clinic of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of the Faculty of Medicine and UNB.
At the clinic, a total of 58 nodes of 20 patients with breast cancer were examined using this molecular-biological method. "The results were consistent with the definitive postoperative histopathological examination in all cases," concludes Professor Kamil Pohlodek from Comenius University.