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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Multispectral Real-time Fluorescence Imaging for Intraoperative Detection of the Sentinel Lymph Node in Gynecologic Oncology
Published on: October 20, 2010
[Sentinel lymph node detection by preoperative lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative gamma probe guidance in
H Vogt1, D Bachter, H K Büchels
1Klinik für Nuklearmedizin, Zentralklinikum Augsburg, Deutschland.
Aim:
The purpose of this work was to prove the clinical significance of nuclear medical procedures in pre- and intraoperative detection of the SLN.
Methods:
In the past 4 years, we did preoperative lymphoscintigraphy in 214 patients (pts.). Intraoperative localisation of the SLN with a hand-held gamma probe followed in 150 pts.
Results:
In 214 pts. 247 lymphatic draining regions were found by preoperative scintigraphy. In 3 pts. with melanoma of the cheek no lymphatics/lymph nodes could be detected. 14 pts. showed interval lymph nodes. In 150 pts. gamma probe guided SLNE was done. In 2 pts. with supraclavicular primary tumor 4 SLN had been defined by preoperative scintigraphy but only 2 could be found intraoperatively. In all other cases (98.7%) the sentinel node was detected correctly by the gamma probe and then removed. In 19 of 150 pts. (12.7%) metastases were detected in the pathologic specimen. The incidence of lymph node metastases showed a continuous increase from 0% at tumor stage pT1 to 44% at stage pT4.
Conclusion:
SLNE is an accurate method to determine nodal involvement in melanoma and minimizes operative invasiveness in melanoma surgery.
