Dear AuntMinnie Member,
A work-in-progress ultrasound contrast agent has demonstrated good results in identifying sentinel lymph nodes. Researchers believe it offers a potential alternative to lymphoscintigraphy, a method commonly used to determine whether cancer has spread into the lymphatic system.
The news comes from a study presented this week at the Leading Edge in Diagnostic Ultrasound conference in Atlantic City, NJ, where staff writer Erik L. Ridley is reporting for our Ultrasound Digital Community.
Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia studied the contrast agent Sonazoid in an animal model to detect lymphatic drainage pathways in different anatomical regions. They found that normal sentinel lymph nodes demonstrated uniformly increased echogenicity, while SLNs with metastases showed nonuniform enhancement.
Lymphosonography also identified more SLNs than lymphoscintigraphy, although it fell short of the gold standard for SLN detection, blue-dye-guided surgical resection. Read all about the team's results by clicking here.
Another featured story from Leading Edge discusses the use of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in liver imaging, where Japanese researchers say it can significantly improve image quality to the point where ultrasound is competitive with CT and MRI. To view the article, visit our Ultrasound Digital Community at ultrasound.auntminnie.com.
