EVALUATION OF SURGICAL GAMMA-PROBES FOR RADIOGUIDED SENTINEL NODE LOCALIZATION

By using a surgical gamma probe after peritumoral injection of a radio active tracer, the surgeon can identify the sentinel, or first, nodal site of regional metastasis in clinically node-negative patients. In t he near future, the pathological status of this node will have an impo rtant impact on the treatment strategy in breast cancer and melanoma p atients. This article reviews the necessary requirements for the instr ument, such as: absolute sensitivity, spectral resolution, angular sen sitivity and response ratio to the radioactive source at depth. In add ition, ergonomic characteristics are important. The surgeon must consi der the above characteristics, as they influence operational handling. Four commercially available surgical gamma probes were subjected to l aboratory tests to appraise the extent to which they fulfilled these c riteria. The results for each gamma probe are summarised and discussed .