RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Additional Value of SPECT/CT in Lymphatic Mapping in Breast Cancer and Melanoma
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine
JO J Nucl Med
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP 1756
OP 1760
DO 10.2967/jnumed.107.043372
VO 48
IS 11
A1 Iris M.C. van der Ploeg
A1 Renato A. Valdés Olmos
A1 Omgo E. Nieweg
A1 Emiel J.Th. Rutgers
A1 Bin B.R. Kroon
A1 Cornelis A. Hoefnagel
YR 2007
UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/48/11/1756.abstract
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.