PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Iris M.C. van der Ploeg
AU  - Renato A. Valdés Olmos
AU  - Omgo E. Nieweg
AU  - Emiel J.Th. Rutgers
AU  - Bin B.R. Kroon
AU  - Cornelis A. Hoefnagel
TI  - The Additional Value of SPECT/CT in Lymphatic Mapping in Breast Cancer and Melanoma
AID  - 10.2967/jnumed.107.043372
DP  - 2007 Nov 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine
PG  - 1756--1760
VI  - 48
IP  - 11
4099  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/48/11/1756.short
4100  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/48/11/1756.full
SO  - J Nucl Med2007 Nov 01; 48
AB  - The recently introduced SPECT/CT integrates the physiologic data of SPECT with the anatomic data of CT into a single image. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the additional value of SPECT/CT in breast cancer patients and melanoma patients with inconclusive planar image findings. Methods: Thirty-one patients had planar lymphoscintigrams showing unexpected lymphatic drainage, 6 had lymphoscintigrams that were difficult to interpret, and 3 showed no drainage on planar imaging. SPECT/CT was performed immediately after delayed planar imaging. Results: In 4 patients, SPECT/CT showed 6 additional sentinel nodes, of which 2 were tumor-positive and led to upstaging and tailored management in 5% of patients. SPECT/CT depicted sentinel nodes in 3 patients whose delayed planar imaging had shown no drainage. Conclusion: SPECT/CT was of additional value in finding the exact anatomic location of sentinel nodes in patients with inconclusive planar image findings. SPECT/CT also detected sentinel nodes in addition to those found on planar images, and SPECT/CT detected sentinel nodes in patients whose planar images had shown none.