Tc-99m Lymphoscintigraphy

[Jodi.Strzelczyk@UCHSC.EDU]

- --part1_6b.115b1408.27e67704_boundary

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit



Dave Engelbretson wrote on March 16, 2000:

I was interested in learning how long medical institutions are holding

resected lymph nodes & tumor tissues before allowing pathological

examination.   

What are others experiences in determining whether these tissues can be

safely examined immediately after surgical extarction ?



Dear Dave,



Tc-99m isotope, used in sentinel lymph node biopsy/dissection procedures,

offers a number of advantages over other

isotopes, low patient dose and low hospital personnel (including

pathologists) exposure among them. 

We introduced this procedure in 1996 for melanoma, then for breast cancer

patients. While initially, for the first few cases, 

we held the primary tumor specimens for 60 hours (conservative 10

half-lives), we found this approach too restrictive. 

Not only it is not justified, such approach could potentially affect quality

of patient care as, in some cases, an immediate 

preliminary histopathology evaluation is necessary. From the beginning,

there were no restrictions placed on the

excised nodes.

You can find out more about our experiences from my review paper presented

at the Midwinter HPS meeting in Anaheim, CA

in February 2001. The paper, titled "Sentinel Node Biopsy: ALARA and Other

Considerations" is printed in the "Changes in

Medical Applications" section of the proceedings titled "Radiation Safety

and ALARA Considerations  for the 21st Century".

Available from: Medical Physics Publishing, 4513 Vernon Blvd, Madison, WI

53705-49964, tel: 800-442-5778 or

608-262-4021; e-mail: mpp@medicalphysics.org   ($35.95).

If you need more information soon, contact me directly (e-mail is best, just

be careful with spelling my name correctly).



Jodi 



Jodi Strzelczyk

Asst. Professor, Radiological Sciences

University of Colorado, HSC 

Denver, CO

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.



------------------------------