Detection of sentinel nodes by lymphoscintigraphy

Sentinel lymph nodes (SLN)are regional lymph nodes first involved in metastatasis if lymphatic spread occurs.The SLN of solid tumor can be accurately identified by preoperative lymphoscintigraphy.Biopsy of the SLN is a highly precise,minimally invasive method of staging patients.The procedure may lead to a more justifiable approach to adjuvant therapy strategies with low complication.The SLN was identified in 80%~100% patients by lymphoscintigraphy. ⁹⁹Tc^m-sulfur colloid,⁹⁹Tc^m-colloidal albumin and ⁹⁹Tc^m-dextran has been the radiotracer for SLN mapping.Lymphoscintigraphy is a simple procedure that is well tolerated by patients.Until now,lymphoscintigraphy has been shown to effective for preop-erative lymphatic mapping and SLN localization in melanoma,breast cancer,and in other malignancies such as vulvar cancer.