Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2023

Comments

This article is the author's final published version in Advanced Ultrasound in Diagnosis and Therapy, volume 7, Issue 1, March 2023, Pg. 1 - 7.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.37015/AUDT.2023.230001. Copyright © AUDT 2023.

Abstract

The sentinel lymph node (SLN) concept hypothesizes that metastatic cancer cells will spread through the lymphatic system to the SLN being the first one in the lymphatic chain to receive the metastatic cells, indicating that if the SLN is free of cancer cells the rest of the lymphatic chain is also without metastatic disease. Diagnostic ultrasound imaging (US) has been used to evaluate lymph nodes (LN) to determine level of suspicion and to guide LN biopsies. However, conventional US cannot be used for lymphatic mapping, which requires administration of a tracer. This has been changed with the use of contrast-enhanced US (CEUS) to detect lymphatic channels and SLNs after subcutaneous injections of microbubble-based US contrast agents (UCAs). The aim of this review is to examine the clinical evidence on the role of subcutaneous injection of UCA, known as lymphosonography, to be used as preoperative identification of SLNs in patients with breast and other cancers.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Language

English

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