| International Journal of Nuclear Medicine Research (Volume 3 Issue 1) | |
| Can SPET/CT Technique Improve the Sentinel Lymph Node Radio- Guided Research in Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma? |  |
| Pages 1-5 Artor Niccoli Asabella, Valentina Lavelli Valentina Lavelli, Cristina Ferrari, Nunzio Merenda, Francesca Iuele, Emilio Paolo Mossa, Valentina Loseto, Giuseppe Rubini DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15379/2408-9788.2016.03.01.01 Published: 17 March 2016 |
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| Abstract | |
| Background: the aim of the study is to define the role of SPET/CT in radio-guided sentinel lymph node surgery identification in cutaneous Malignant Melanoma (MM) and to assess if SPET/CT data can modify surgery time. Materials and Methods: 96 patients with MM (58 men and 38 women, mean age of 44 years, range 14-71 years) were divided into two groups. 66 patients (group I) were submitted to sentinel node (SN) research by planar lymphoscintigraphy; 30 patients (group II) performed both planar and SPET/CT lymphoscintigraphy. SN surgery identification percentage, SN anatomical site identification and surgery times were evaluated in each group. Results: Group II presented a percentage of SN surgery identification, both globally (96.5%) and in specific sites (axilla lymph nodes 94.5%; upon clavicle lymph nodes 100%), better than group I. Furthermore surgery time was shorter in the group II (10’-20’). Conclusions: SPET/CT allows a more accurate SN identification than planar lymphoscintigraphy, especially in axillar and upon-clavicular nodes and contributes to a correct staging of cutaneous MM. It can improve surgery success percentage and shortens surgery time, reducing also surgery team irradiation. |
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| Keywords | |
| Malignant melanoma, Sentinel node, Lymphoscintigraphy, Planar scintigraphy, SPECT/CT. | |
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