[Postoperative lymph node scintigraphy in patients with malignant melanoma]

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Surgical Oncology

Background:

• Regional lymph node dissection is a critical component of melanoma treatment.
• Ensuring the completeness of lymph node dissection is essential for accurate staging and effective treatment.
• Assessing the completeness of dissection can be challenging with traditional methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of postoperative lymph node scintigraphy in controlling the completeness of regional lymph node dissection in melanoma patients.
• To establish lymph node scintigraphy as a reliable, non-invasive method for post-dissection assessment.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-three patients with melanoma malignum underwent regional lymph node dissection.
• Lymph node scintigraphy was performed 3-6 weeks post-surgery.
• Radiopharmaceutical was administered via intercostal and interdigital routes to delineate lymph nodes.

Main Results:

• Block dissection was deemed complete if no lymph nodes were visualized after either intercostal or interdigital radiopharmaceutical administration.
• The study demonstrated the feasibility of using lymph node scintigraphy for this purpose.

Conclusions:

• Postoperative lymph node scintigraphy is a suitable and non-invasive method for controlling the completeness of regional lymph node dissection in melanoma patients.
• This technique offers a reliable way to verify the extent of lymph node removal.