Timing of lymphoscintigraphy for SLNB
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Survival Outcomes and Interval Between Lymphoscintigraphy and Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Cutaneous Melanoma
IRAS ID
234471
Contact name
Marc Moncrieff
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital Foundation NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in cutaneous melanoma (CM) is performed to identify patient at risk of regional and distant relapse. We have noticed whilst discussing our patients in the MDT that patients who have previously been reported as SLNB negative are recurring with melanoma metastases in the same nodal field, described as a false negative. Since our service is divided into patients who have the operative mapping scans the same day as surgery and some that have the scans the day before surgery for logistical reasons. We hypothesise that timing of lymphoscintigraphy may influence the accuracy of SLNB and patient outcome. We plan to review our prospectively collected data on patients undergoing SLNB for CM at the NNUH, examining patient and tumour demographics and time between lymphoscintigraphy (LS) and SLNB. We hypothesise that temporal tracer migration may be the underlying cause for these false negative SLNB results and intend to investigate this from our large cohort. The findings of this study, if the hypothesis is proven, will have implications for SLNB services across the UK.
REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NE/0304
Date of REC Opinion
14 Sep 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion