[Lymphoscintigraphy: evaluating lymphatic spread of rectal cancer].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate lymphatic drainage of rectal and lymphatic spread of rectal cancer.


METHODS
Rectal endoscopic lymphoscintigraphy was performed in 37 volunteers and 16 patients. One millilitre dextran marked with (99m)Tc was injected bilaterally into submucosa of the rectum through rectal endoscopy. 1, 2, 3 hours after the injection, rectal lymphoscintigraphy was registered with a computerized gamma camera (TOSHIBA GCA901A).


RESULTS
Lymphoscintigraphy in control subjects showed upward epirectal and pararectal nodes. The average number of the nodes was 12 three hours after the injection. Compared with histological node examination in all patients operated upon for rectal cancer, rectal endoscopic lymphoscintigraphy showed a sensitivity of 97.1%, a specificity of 75.0%, an overall accuracy of 87.5%, a false positivity of 25.0%, and false negativity of 8.3%.


CONCLUSIONS
The method is better for evaluating lymphatic spread of rectal cancer before operation.
He
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C
Department of Colorectal Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Medical University, Hangzhou 310006.
Huang
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X
Shen
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W
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003911:Dextrans; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D011351:Proctoscopy; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D003911:Dextrans; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; C034146:technetium Tc 99m dextran