Objective:To explore the prospects of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and methylene blue(MB)detection of breast cancer sentinel lymph node(SLN).Methods:Twenty-four rabbit models of VX2 breast cancer was set up with

subcutaneous injection of SonoVue

to get contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging of SLN.The situation of contrast-enhanced SLN was observed.Thenubcutaneous injection of MB was performed to trace SLN.SLN was resected from axillary lymph nods

which underwent immuno-histochemistry of AE1/AE3.Results:Among the twenty-four rabbits

12 SLN homogeneous echo-enhanced.22 SLN enhanced non-uniformity were found by contrast-enhanced ultrasound.By MB tracer method 32 SLN were detected.38 SLN were resected from axillary lymph nodes.To make surgical resection as the standard

the detection rate of contrast-enhanced ultrasound(89.47%) and the MB tracer detection rate(84.21%) showed no significant difference(P>0.05).To make the results of immunohistochemistry criteria as the standard

contrast-enhanced ultrasound sensitivity(95.24%) and the MB tracer method sensitivity(91.30%) showed no significant difference(P >0.05)

but the specificity(84.62%) and accuracy(91.18%) were significantly higher from contrast-enhanced ultrasound sensitivity than those from tracer MB method-specificity(26.67%) and accuracy(65.79%)(P<0.05).Conclusion:Contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging indetecting SLN of breast cancer gets a higher detection rate

specificity

accuracy and sensitivity compared with the MB tracer method

which is expected to become the common method in detection of SLN.