Abstract:Objective To explore the significance and clinical application value of internal mammary sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer. Methods Radionuclide combined with methylene blue method was used to 58cases with early breast cancer for internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy, relative characteristics of the IM-SLN with the pathological result were analyzed. Results IM-SLN imaging rate with radionuclide combined with methylene blue method was 19%, the detection rate was 100%, and the IM-SLN metastasis rate was 5%, all of which were associated with axillary lymph node metastasis; patients’ IM-SLN transfer status was significantly related with axillary lymph node metastasis status by univariate analysis (P < 0.05), while was irrelated with patients’ age, menopausal status, tumor size, tumor location, preoperative biopsy and pathological types (P > 0.05).Conclusion The success rate of radionuclide combined with methylene blue method of IM-SLNB is low, actually all of these patients have ALN metastasis, who have the indication of radiotherapy in the endosperm area in the NCCN. Therefore, the method of IM-SLNB for this part of patients is not significant. For the patients with only IMLN metastasis, missed diagnosis and inadequate treatment will occur without IMLNB. Therefore, the detection technology and methods of operation need to be improved, and the sample size needs increasing, which is expected to guide the treatment of breast lymph node dissection, and provide accurate staging and individualized treatment for patients.