No abstract

Introduction: Pelvic varicose veins, one of the main causes of chronic pelvic pain and dyspareunia, are an important source of reflux for lower limb varicose veins, especially in recurrent cases. Color Doppler ultrasound of the lower limbs and transvaginal ultrasound are the noninvasive diagnostic methods most commonly used to assess pelvic venous insufficiency, whereas phlebography is still considered as the gold standard. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of lower limb varicose veins originating from the pelvis in a group of female patients and to determine the agreement between results obtained via color Doppler ultrasound of the lower limbs, transvaginal ultrasound, and phlebography. Methods: The sample comprised female patients referred to a vascular laboratory for lower limb screening. Patients diagnosed with deep venous thrombosis were excluded. Data analysis included kappa coefficient of agreement, McNemar' s test, sensitivity and specificity values. Results: Of a total of 1,020 patients, 124 (12.2%) had findings compatible with reflux of pelvic origin. Among these patients, 51 (41.2%) were recurrent cases. A total of 249 were submitted to transvaginal ultrasound. There was significant agreement between lower limb ultrasonographic findings and transvaginal findings. Phlebography was performed in 54 patients. The comparison between transvaginal ultrasound and phlebography was associated with a 96.2% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Conclusions: The authors draw attention to the relatively high prevalence of lower limb varicose veins originating from the pelvis, suggesting an important but underdiagnosed cause of recurrent varicose veins.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has not been examined using the principles of evidence-based medicine (EBM). Specifically, likelihood ratios have not been used to assess the validity of SLNB. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) public database of the National Cancer Institute was used to establish the baseline or pretest probability of finding a positive lymph axillary node for each stage of breast cancer. Rates of false negative results of SLNB for all breast cancer stages were determined from the surgical literature. Positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR) were calculated. For each stage of breast cancer, the Bayesian nomogram was used to find the post-test probability of missing a metastatic axillary node when the SLN was negative. The SEER database of 213,292 female patients with breast cancer yielded the following rates of positivity of axillary lymph nodes for each breast tumor size: T1a, 7.8 per cent; T1b, 13.3 per cent; T1c, 28.5 per cent; T2, 50.2 per cent; T3, 70.1 per cent. The combined data from 13 published studies of SLNB (6444 successful SLNBs) demonstrated a false negative rate of 8.5 per cent. The LR of a negative test is 0.086. According to the nomogram, the chances of missing a positive node for stage of cancer are as follows: T1a, 0.7 per cent; T1b, 1.5 per cent; T1c, 3.0 per cent; T2, 7 per cent; T3, 18 per cent. The risk of missing a positive axillary node can accurately be estimated for each stage of breast cancer using the LR, which is much more useful than the simple false negative rate. Surgeons should use this information when deciding whether to perform SLNB and in their informed consent discussions.