Pilot study on the feasibility of PET/CT lymphoscintigraphy with 89Zr-nanocolloidal albumin for sentinel node identification in oral cancer patients.

Abstract

With conventional imaging techniques such as planar lymphoscintigraphy and SPECT/CT, preoperative sentinel node (SN) identification can be difficult when the SN is near the primary tumor, as is the case in floor-of-mouth carcinomas. PET/CT lymphoscintigraphy may improve the detection and localization of such SNs. In this study, the clinical feasibility of PET/CT lymphoscintigraphy using (89)Zr-nanocolloidal albumin was evaluated in 5 oral cancer patients. PET/CT lymphoscintigraphy was performed after peritumoral injection of (89)Zr-nanocolloidal albumin. The routine SN procedure, including SPECT/CT using (99m)Tc-nanocolloidal albumin, was performed on the same patients 7-9 d after the injection of (89)Zr-nanocolloidal albumin. Comparison of radiocolloid distribution on PET/CT and SPECT/CT showed identical drainage patterns. Moreover, PET/CT was able to identify additional foci near the primary tumor. This pilot PET/CT study on SN detection indicated that lymphoscintigraphy using (89)Zr-nanocolloidal albumin is feasible.