The Effects of Modified Lymphoscintigraphy Techniques on Sentinel Lymph
Node Biopsy Success During the COVID-19 Pandemic Period
Abstract
Background Sampling of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) in breast cancer
provides accurate information about the condition of the axilla in 95%
of cases. Technically in detecting SLN; radioactive substance, dyers or
both are used. During the COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic,
delayed images were not taken in lymphoscintigraphy to reduce the risk
of transmission by shortening the waiting time in our center. In this
study, the effects of early and delayed lymphoscintigraphic images and
only early images on our clinical practice were evaluated. Methods We
investigated the data of 147 patients in this study who underwent SLNB
due to early-stage breast cancer at our institute during the COVID-19
pandemic period (March/April/May 2020) and within 3 months before the
pandemic were evaluated. Results Patients were divided into two groups,
before pandemic (BP) and pandemic period (PP). BP consisted of patients
whose early and delayed images were taken in lymphoscintigraphy whereas
PP consisted of those with early images only. There were 74 patients in
the BP group and 73 patients in the PP group. Discussion/Conclusions In
the present study, we believe that if technically possible, delayed
images taken during the lymphoscintigraphy can assist the surgeon in
terms of SLN detection and the number of SLNs removed.