Perioperative PET/CT lymphoscintigraphy and fluorescent real-time imaging for sentinel lymph node mapping in early staged colon cancer

ConclusionsThis study shows the potential of preoperative PET/CT lymphoscintigraphy to inform the surgeon about the number and location of SLNs in patients with early colon cancer. The additional use of NIR-imaging allows for intraoperative identification of these SLNs which are invisible with conventional white light imaging. Further research is necessary to improve and simplify the technique. We recommend perioperative SLN identification using a preoperative lymphoscintigraphy scan just before surgery approximately 24  h after injection. Additionally a postoperative scan of the specimen combined with intraoperative real-time NIR-imaging should be performed.
Source: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging - Category: Nuclear Medicine Source Type: research