The study was a single-center, open-label, randomized controlled, non-inferiority, phase 3 trial. Eligible participants were 18 year's of age or older and had histologically confirmed primary invasive breast cancer, or ductal carcinoma in situ scheduled for mastectomy, without clinical or radiological nodal involvement (cN0) or with clinical positive lymph nodes (cN1) that were downstaged to cN0 following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT); and had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status score of 0 or 1. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) using a permuted block randomization scheme to receive either ultrasound-assisted CNSs (UC group) or CNSs plus ICG dual-tracer-guided (GC group) SLN mapping.
The investigators suggested ultrasound-assisted Carbon nanoparticle suspensions (CNSs) mapping had great clinical value in clinical application and might serve as a useful alternative to the dual-tracer-guided SLNB. The investigators designed this prospective, randomized controlled phase 3 trial, to compare the feasibility and diagnostic performance of ultrasound-assisted carbon nanoparticle suspensions mapping versus dual-tracer-guided sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with early breast cancer.