Indocyanine green fluorescence versus blue dye, technetium-99M, and the dual-marker combination of technetium-99M + blue dye for sentinel lymph node detection in early breast cancer–meta-analysis including consistency analysis
Axillary sentinel lymph node biopsies are standard of care in patients with breast cancer and no clinically apparent metastases. Traditionally, technetium-99m, blue dye, or both have been used to identify sentinel lymph nodes. However, blue dyes miss up to 40% of sentinel lymph nodes, while technetium-99m use is complex, costly, and exposes patients to radiation. Over the past decade, studies have consistently found the biologically inert fluorescent indocyanine green to be 95% to 100% sensitive in detecting breast cancer sentinel lymph nodes, yet indocyanine green remains infrequently used.
Source: Surgery - Category: Surgery Authors: Kevin P. White, Diego Sinagra, Fernando Dip, Raul J. Rosenthal, Edgar A. Mueller, Emanuele Lo Menzo, Alberto Rancati Source Type: research