Abstract: Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of preoperative assessment of the status of sentinel lymph node（SLN）in breast cancer using contrast-enhanced ultrasonography combined with fine needle aspiration cytology（CEUSFNAC）.Methods 122 consenting patients with early breast cancer admitted in our hospital were prospectively recruited in this study.Before the surgery，SLN was assessed using contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with fine needle aspiration cytology.Determination and characterization of SLN by simple dye method or combined isotope method were performed.The findings of CEUS-FNAC were recorded and compared with the final pathological diagnosis.Results The cases of SLN metastasis group and metastasis-free group detected by pathological diagnosis were 28 and 94 respectively.CEUS-FNAC detected 20 cases of SLN metastasis，and 103 cases did not metastasize.The detection rate，sensitivity，specificity，positive predictive value and negative predictive value of CEUS-FNAC for evaluating the status of sentinel lymph node were 100%，71.43%，100%，93.44%，100%，92.16%,respectively，with statistically significant（P=0.000，Kappa=0.794）.Conclusion The cytopathological results obtained by preoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasonography combined with fine needle aspiration of SLN were consistent with the pathological results of postoperative SLN，indicating that the CEUS-FNAC can be used for the assessment of sentinel lymph node status in preoperative breast cancer.

Key words: breast cancer, sentinel lymph node, contrastenhanced ultrasound, fine needle aspiration cytology