Mikio Shiozawa, from the Department of Surgery at Jichi Medical University, shortly describes a feasibility study on magnetic resonance lymphography of sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) in breast cancer patients using superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO):
To further advance the SLN biopsy technique using SPIOs, we evaluated preoperative SPIO-MR sentinel lymphography to facilitate accurate identification of the lymphatic pathways and primary SLN.
The prospective study was performed in breast cancer patients with clinically negative axillary lymph nodes.
After 1.6ml of SPIO (Ferucarbotran) was injected in the subareolar breast tissue, sentinel axillary lymph nodes were detected using MRI and resected using the serial SPIO-SLN biopsy procedure with a handheld magnetometer.
In all patients, the SLN were detected during SPIO-MR sentinel lymphography and successfully identified at surgery. The acquired 3D-imaging demonstrated excellent image quality and usefulness to identify SLN in conjunction with SLN biopsy.
The full article was published in “Breast Cancer”, the official journal of the Japanese Breast Cancer Society (July 2014, Volume 21, Issue 4, pp 394–401; Shiozawa, M., Kobayashi, S., Sato, Y. et al. Breast Cancer (2014) 21: 394) and is also available for purchase online here.