[Radionuclide visualization of the superior rectal and inferior mesenteric lymph nodes in rectal cancer]

Scintigraphic image of the superior rectal and inferior mesenteric lymph nodes 7-8 cm up from the anus was obtained by presacral administration of finely divided 99mTc-colloid (close to the posterior rectal wall). The results of radiometry of the lymph nodes dissected at radical operation for rectal cancer have shown that due to the above method the radioactive indicator is accumulated in these groups of lymph nodes. Several variants of a scintigraphic picture were defined on the basis of analysis of scintigrams of 23 patients with extrarectal tumors and nontumorous diseases and 40 rectal cancer patients. Evaluation of the lymphoscintigraphy results compared with the morphological findings of the lymph nodes dissected at operation in 32 rectal cancer patients, has shown that the overall accuracy of the above method is 0.81, specificity--0.63, sensitivity--1.0.