Intraoperative Imaging for Sentinel Lymph Nodes

摘要

The main objective of this investigation is to determine the feasibility and value of the use of a small field of view camera gamma camera intraoperatively for sentinel lymph node (SLN) localization in breast cancer patients. A camera with a 5 in. x 5 in. field of view (FOV) is being investigated. Clinical experience with 14 subjects using the 1 in. x 1 in. FOV and 15 subjects using the 5 in. x 5 in. FOV suggests that the 5 x 5 FOV is more valuable to SLN localization in breast cancer patients. The task of verifying the content of two databases one consisting of one hundred and twenty-one breast cancer patients and the other consisting of 50 was carefully done. Data from database consisting of 50 patients was presented at the 8th Congress of the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology 2002 in Santiago, Chile by the senior nuclear medicine technologist at Atlanta VAMC. preliminary data from the probe alone versus probe and camera study was analyzed and an abstract was submitted for Sentinel Node 2004. From the work accomplished this far having a small FOV camera intraoperatively for SLN localization cases that do not make use of preoperative imaging might have some value.