Preliminary experiences with sentinel lymph node detection in cases of vulvar malignancy.
Lymph node status is the most important prognostic factor in vulvar malignancy. The aim of this pilot study was to explore the clinical significance of radionuclide lymphoscintigraphy in the management of vulvar neoplasms. Eight patients with squamous cell carcinoma and two patients with malignant melanoma of the vulva were studied with 100 MBq technetium-99m nanocolloid (Sentiscint, OSSKI, Budapest) 1 day before surgery. The location of the sentinel lymph node was checked by a single-head gamma camera-computer system (MB 9200, Mediso, Budapest). Vulvectomy with bilateral inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy was performed in each case. At lymphadenectomy, the sentinel lymph node was separately removed and histologically studied. Three of the ten patients had positive sentinel lymph nodes (micrometastasis). Five months later one of them had local recurrence of the vulvar cancer, and another had inguinal recurrence of the tumour 6 months postoperatively; the third patient was operated on only recently. Our preliminary results are impressive and suggest that lymphoscintigraphy is an easy and reliable method for detection of the sentinel lymph node in vulvar malignancy.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Pécs, Faculty of Medicine, Hungary. tika@clinics.pote.hu
Katalin
K
Zámbó
Erzsébet
E
Schmidt
Tamás
T
Hartmann
László
L
Kornya
Babak
B
Dehghani
Hans Rudolf
HR
Tinneberg
József
J
Bódis
D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008545:Melanoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000379:methods; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin; C083602:technetium Tc 99m nanocolloid