Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

Small, round lymph nodes are a part of the body’s immune system that carry white blood cells to fight infection and organ waste. Lymph in a cancer patient can also carry separated cancer cells from the primary tumor.

 

The first lymph node to get cancer cells from the primary tumor is a sentinel lymph node.

 

By removing this lymph node and sending it for histological analysis, the SLNB method determines the condition of the remaining lymph nodes and if they need to be removed.

 

There are various ways to find the sentinel lymph node, including using dye, radiotracer combination, etc.

 

We apply the dual method. Just prior to surgery, the radiotracer is given at the nuclear medicine department, and dye is injected during surgery. The dual technique has higher sensitivity and specificity than the dye technique alone. The gamma camera is used to identify the node that has radiotracer uptake, and the dye uptake is detected by dye colour uptake. These nodes are taken out and submitted for frozen section (immediate pathological testing), and if the SLN is positive, the remaining nodes are taken out as well. The incidence of lymphoedema and limited mobility has been minimized because of this procedure.

 

Breast, skin, uterine, and penile cancers are addressed using SLNB procedure.