Lymphatic mapping after previous breast surgery.

Background: To assess the feasibility of lymphatic mapping and determine the lymphatic drainage pathways in patients previously treated with breast conserving therapy (BCT).

Methods: We included patients without current breast cancer that previously received BCT with sentinel node biopsy (SNB) and/or axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) for primary breast cancer. The study population consisted of 44 patients and was divided into two groups according to previous surgical treatment of the axilla: 22 patients after previous SNB and 22 patients after previous ALND.

[Effective intraoperative identification of parathyroid adenomas by means of a gamma probe after injection of technetium 99m-sestamibi in 5 patients].

Primary hyperparathyroidism is caused by a single adenoma in the majority of patients. In five patients (2 men aged 74 and 78 and 3 women aged 78, 58 an 73 years) a recently introduced approach for intraoperative identification of pathological parathyroid glands was applied using intravenously injected technetium-99m(99mTc)-sestamibi and a gamma probe. For two patients this was a reoperation in this region.

[Summary of the guideline 'Sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer.' Dutch Work Group 'Sentinel Node Biopsy for Breast Cancer'].

The team Sentinel Node Biopsy Breast Cancer issued guidelines for the performance of the sentinel node procedure. The team took into account the problems resulting from the introduction of the technique. The eligible group consists mainly of women with demonstrated breast cancer with a diameter of < or = 2 cm without palpable axillary nodes.

Lymphoscintigraphy and ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology of sentinel lymph nodes in head and neck cancer patients.

Accurate staging of the regional lymph nodes is crucial for the appropriate management of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC). However, the current diagnostic modalities have low accuracy for N0 neck, and even the most optimal procedure, ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (USgFNAC), still has a sensitivity of only 42%-73%. In this study we evaluated whether the identification of the sentinel node might improve the selection of lymph nodes for USgFNAC.