CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · World J Nucl Med 2022; 21(01): 085-098
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1749235
Presentation Abstracts

Preoperative Breast Lymphoscintigraphy: Frequency of Satellite Sentinel Lymph Node Appearance

Argirios Doumas
1   Department of Nuclear Medicine, Aristotle University, AHEPA HSP, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Dimitrios Boundas
2   IPPOKRATIS, Nuclear Medicine Centre, Greece
,
Georgia Koutsouki
3   Aristotle University, School of Medicine, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Fotini Spyroglou
1   Department of Nuclear Medicine, Aristotle University, AHEPA HSP, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Emmanouil Papanastasiou
1   Department of Nuclear Medicine, Aristotle University, AHEPA HSP, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Evanthia Giannoula
1   Department of Nuclear Medicine, Aristotle University, AHEPA HSP, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Paraskevi Exadaktylou
1   Department of Nuclear Medicine, Aristotle University, AHEPA HSP, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Georgios Grasimou
1   Department of Nuclear Medicine, Aristotle University, AHEPA HSP, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Ioannis Iakovou
1   Department of Nuclear Medicine, Aristotle University, AHEPA HSP, Thessaloniki, Greece
› Author Affiliations
› Further Information
 

  • Areas of Interest: Other

Introduction: Lymphoscintigraphy nowadays is increasingly used, to locate preoperatively the first draining node (i.e., sentinel node) in patients with breast cancer. If the sentinel node is tumor free, then the remainder nodes are obviously without metastases and can be spared.

Methods: This study aimed to identify the sentinel node preoperatively, 194 patients with breast malignancy were examined scintigraphycally. Lymphoscintigraphy was performed by injecting a small amount of Tc-mm labeled nanocolloid in the four quadrants around the nipple, and acquiring dynamic imaging for 20 minutes, or until the sentinel node is clearly seen. The first visualized node represents the sentinel one. In 33 out of 194 (17%), the radioactive tracer was first depicted a maxillary node and then drained usually superiorly to a second one, representing a satellite node. In 9 out of 194 (4.5%), two or more satellite nodes were visualized. In summary, the distinction between the sentinel and satellite (secondary draining nodes) has important clinical implication, representing the number of nodes that require surgical excision.

Conclusion: Dynamic planar imaging is able define the pattern of lymph flow and visualize the sentinel node, as well as the satellite ones. Failure to obtain dynamic or to skip scintigraphic imaging at all, may lead to misdiagnosis of the sentinel node's satellite(s) in a quite considerable number of patients.



Publication History

Article published online:
10 May 2022

© 2022. World Association of Radiopharmaceutical and Molecular Therapy (WARMTH). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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