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[Lymphoscintigraphy in sentinel lymph node biopsy of breast cancer]
Jie Zhang1, Kunwei Shen, Lamichhane Nirmal
1Department of Breast Surgery and Nuclear Medicine, Cancer Hospital (Institute), Fu Dan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
Objective:
To evaluate the feasibility of lymphoscintigraphy in sentinel lymph node biopsy of breast cancer.
Method:
Lymphoscintigraphy was performed after peritumoral or subdermal injection of radioactive colloid. Then, sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy guided by gamma detector probe was performed. Factors correlated with identification-detection rate were assessed.
Results:
Lymphatic drainage was present in preoperative lymphoscintigraphy in 88(93%) out of 95 patients, with 39 (44.3%) positive for lymphatic drainage other than in the axilla. A total of 91 (95.8%) patients had their SLN identified in the intraoperative procedure. The quality of lymphoscintigraphic image was closely related to SLN identification-detection rate in the intraoperative procedure (P = 0.025).
Conclusion:
Sentinel lymph node outside the axilla can be detected by lymphoscintigraphy. The combination of lymphoscintigraphy and gamma detector probe for sentinel lymph node biopsy of breast cancer not only is acceptable but promising.