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Evaluating Metastatic Involvement Of Lymph Nodes For Breast Cancer Patients

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Assessing metastatic involvement of the lymph nodes in breast cancer patients is important in planning surgical and adjuvant therapies. A trend toward breast-conserving therapies with the goal of improving quality of life for breast cancer patients has driven the need to accurately assess lymph nodal staging. The concept of a sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is a valuable tool in evaluating metastatic spread of primary breast tumors (Maaskant-Braat et al.,2012; Noushi et al., 2013). Tokin et al. (2012) describe how the process of tumor spread via the lymphatics occurs to the first draining lymph node, then to subsequent nodes within the same basin and beyond. Breast lymphoscintigraphy has emerged as a useful means of identifying the SLN, although many patient factors, choice of radiopharmaceutical, injection technique, and imaging protocol may affect the successful outcome. The ideal exam protocol would combine speed, accuracy, and sensitivity to identifying the SLN with the least amount of burden to the patient and resources involved (Povoski et al., 2006; Sadeghi et al., 2009; Tokin et al., 2012).
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The keywords breast lymphoscintigraphy, breast sentinel lymph node, sentinel lymph node identification, SPECT/CT breast lymphoscintigraphy, injection method lymphoscintigraphy, image protocol breast lymphoscintigraphy, repeat breast lymphoscintigraphy, axillary sentinel lymph node, non-axillary sentinel lymph node, Nanocall®, Lymphoseek®, and tilmanocept were

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