BACKGROUND

In order to perform a full surgical resection on non-palpable breast lesions, a current method necessitates correct intraoperative localization. Additionally, because it is an important prognostic factor for these patients, the examination of the lymph node status is crucial.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the sentinel node and occult lesion localization (SNOLL) technique in localizing nonpalpable breast lesions together with sentinel lymph node (SLN) using a single radiotracer, that is, nanocolloid particles of human serum albumin (NC) labeled with technetium-99m (99mTc).

METHODS

39 patients were included, each having a single non-palpable breast lesion and clinically no evidence of axillary disease. Patients received 99mTc- NC intratumorally on the same day as surgery under the guidance of ultrasound. Planar and single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography lymphoscintigraphy were performed to localize the breast lesion and the SLN. The occult breast lesion and SLN were both localized using a hand-held gamma-probe, which was also utilized to determine the optimal access pathway for surgery. In order to ensure a radical treatment in a single surgical session and reduce the amount of normal tissue that would need to be removed, the surgical field was checked with the gamma probe after the specimen was removed to confirm the lack of residual sources of considerable radioactivity.

RESULTS

Breast lesions were successfully localized and removed in all patients. Pathological findings revealed breast carcinoma in 11/39 patients (28%) and benign lesions in 28 (72%). Axillary SLNs were detected in 31/39 (79.5%) patients. The metastatic involvement of SLN was only seen in two cases.

CONCLUSION

While the identification rate of the SNOLL technique performed with an intratumoral injection of 99mTc-NC as the sole radiotracer in non-palpable breast lesions was great, it was not fully satisfactory in SLNs.