Positron lymphography for pre-operative axillary nodal staging
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A pilot study of positron lymphography for pre-operative axillary nodal staging among breast cancer patients.
IRAS ID
230852
Contact name
Gary Cook
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Radiological assessment via ultrasound is the current gold standard for staging a breast cancer patient’s axillary lymph node basin pre-operatively. The outcome of this is essential for determining patient prognosis and informing decisions on surgical and adjuvant treatment. As an imaging tool for assessing lymph node status, we know that ultrasound has limitations, demonstrated in the fact that up to 50% of patients deemed to be radiologically node negative pre-surgery will be found to have tumour cells in their nodes when removed during surgery. For these patients, it will be recommended that they undergo another surgical procedure to remove all remaining lymph nodes from their axilla. These re-operations have a significant physical and psychological morbidity on patients, and cause a financial burden for the health care sector. Therefore, there is a clear need for a reliable imaging tool that can determine if a lymph node is positive or negative pre-operatively, thereby reducing the number of patients that need to undergo a second operation.
The aim of this research is to test the intradermal application of 18F-FDG, a tracer already currently utilised within standard medical care, combined with a PET/CT, that if successful will help in the planning of patient’s axillary lymph node surgical treatment. The feasibility of this novel imaging technique will be evaluated among 15 histopathologically node positive breast cancer patients, in a single centre, first in woman study.
REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1848
Date of REC Opinion
9 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion