Periareolar injection for localization of sentinel nodes in breast cancer patients.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the periareolar injection of technetium 99m sulfur colloid to identify axillary sentinel nodes and compare the number of sentinel lymph nodes identified with preoperative lymphoscintigraphy to intraoperative biopsy using a handheld gamma probe. A total of 104 consecutive patients diagnosed with invasive breast cancer participated in this prospective study, with 81 patients receiving an intradermal periareolar injection and 23 patients receiving an intradermal peritumoral injection of filtered technetium 99m sulfur colloid. Preoperative lymphoscintigraphy was performed for sentinel node mapping and localization.