title: Detection of sentinel node in breast cancer: pilot study with the imaging probe.
abstract: The commonly used gamma probes are easy to use but also give rough information when employed in radioisotope-guided surgery. When images are required for exact localization, a gamma camera as well as a probe have to be used. Position-sensitive photomultipliers have contemporaneously allowed high-resolution scintigraphy and miniaturization of gamma cameras. We have assembled a miniature gamma camera with a 1-square-inch field of view and an intrinsic resolution of about 1 mm. When the minicamera is collimated with a large-holed, highly sensitive collimator, it acquires a spatial resolution of 3 mm. This prototype has been tested in the detection of difficult-to-image breast cancer sentinel nodes. Five nodes that had not been found with the usual technique of an Anger camera plus conventional probe were checked with the miniature camera that we named imaging probe: it actually is small enough to be used as a probe and large enough to give an image. One of the five nodes was found and imaged. It was small, disease-free, close to the tumor and probably hidden by the Compton halo around the peritumoral injection site. Our pilot study shows that the imaging probe, although still a prototype, has certain advantages over conventional methods when lymph node localization is required during surgery.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Patologia, Università La Sapienza, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scopinaro
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pani
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soluri
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scafè
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Vincentis
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Capoccetti
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chiarini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stella
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D015902:Gamma Cameras; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin
chemical_list: D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin; C083602:technetium Tc 99m nanocolloid