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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Non-invasive Optical Imaging of the Lymphatic Vasculature of a Mouse
Published on: March 8, 2013
[Lymphoscintigraphy: evaluating lymphatic spread of rectal cancer]
1Department of Colorectal Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Medical University, Hangzhou 310006.
Objective:
To investigate lymphatic drainage of rectal and lymphatic spread of rectal cancer.
Methods:
Rectal endoscopic lymphoscintigraphy was performed in 37 volunteers and 16 patients. One millilitre dextran marked with (99m)Tc was injected bilaterally into submucosa of the rectum through rectal endoscopy. 1, 2, 3 hours after the injection, rectal lymphoscintigraphy was registered with a computerized gamma camera (TOSHIBA GCA901A).
Results:
Lymphoscintigraphy in control subjects showed upward epirectal and pararectal nodes. The average number of the nodes was 12 three hours after the injection. Compared with histological node examination in all patients operated upon for rectal cancer, rectal endoscopic lymphoscintigraphy showed a sensitivity of 97.1%, a specificity of 75.0%, an overall accuracy of 87.5%, a false positivity of 25.0%, and false negativity of 8.3%.
Conclusion:
The method is better for evaluating lymphatic spread of rectal cancer before operation.
