The study was led by Bas Pouw from the Netherlands Cancer Institute. The researchers evaluated the efficacy of SPECT/CT for identifying sentinel nodes in breast cancer patients who showed no apparent drainage on planar lymphoscintigraphy.
From July 2008 to November 2014, more than 1,900 breast cancer patients underwent a sentinel node breast procedure, with approximately 300 receiving an additional SPECT/CT scan for nonvisualization on planar lymphoscintigraphy.
Approximately one-third of the women who underwent SPECT/CT had previous surgery or radiation therapy for the same breast prior to the sentinel node procedure, while 40 patients were scheduled for neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
SPECT/CT detected one or more sentinel nodes in more than 20% of the women who received the scan. When a node was not discovered but still suspected, a reinjection of contrast media and follow-up SPECT/CT uncovered a sentinel node in 38 patients (60%).
Based on the results, the researchers have adjusted their protocol for when nodes are not found on planar lymphoscintigraphy, using SPECT/CT only for patients with persistent absence of drainage after reinjection.
