Appropriate procedures for the safe handling and pathologic examination oftechnetium-99m-labelled specimens

TECHNETIUM 99M MAY NOW BE USED TO IDENTIFY sentinel nodes for surgical exci sion in a growing number of cancer sites. The pathology specimens of these sentinel nodes and of any injected tumoural sites are radioactive. Conseque ntly, specific clinical and laboratory procedures must be developed to hand le these specimens safely. It is recommended that specimens containing the injection site should be quarantined for a period to permit decay of radioa ctivity. This quarantine does delay the reporting of pathology results to s urgeons, oncologists and other clinicians, but it does not adversely affect final patient management.