Novel handheld PET probes provide intraoperative localization of PET-avid lymph nodes Journal Article


Authors: González, S. J.; Wong, J.; Gonzalez, L.; Brader, P.; Zakowski, M.; Gonen, M.; Fong, Y.; Strong, V. E.
Article Title: Novel handheld PET probes provide intraoperative localization of PET-avid lymph nodes
Abstract: The accurate intraoperative localization of malignant nodes can pose a challenge to the surgical oncologist. Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning has significantly increased our ability to detect suspicious lesions. We investigated the ability of a novel, handheld tool to evaluate suspicious nodes intraoperatively and to correlate its findings with those seen on preoperative PET scan. Ten nude rats were inoculated with a lymphogenic mesothelioma tumor line and followed weekly with PET scan studies. When suspicious lymph nodes were found, animals were dissected and the intraoperative amount of tissue radiation was analyzed as "tumor-to-background ratio" (TBR) using the PET probes. The intraoperative probe was used to guide dissections and select high-risk nodes based on their specific radiotracer uptake. A total of 52 nodes were harvested; eight of these were suspicious on preoperative PET scan studies. Using a TBR of 2.5, the intraoperative probes were able to localize all suspicious nodes previously seen on PET scan. Both gamma (sensitivity: 100%; specificity: 86%; positive predictive value (PPV): 57%; negative predictive value (NPV): 100%) and beta (sensitivity: 88%; specificity: 91%; PPV: 64%; NPV: 98%) probes showed an excellent area under the curve (AUC) in the receiver operating characteristic analysis (ROC). Both probes had an AUC of 0.95 for localizing suspicious nodes on PET scan. Furthermore, the AUC for detecting malignancy for the gamma probe was 0.90 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.83-0.99), and for the beta probe it was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.94-1.0), suggesting a better performance of the beta probe for detecting malignancy. This novel tool may be used synergistically with the PET scan examination to maximize intraoperative nodal selection and sampling.
Keywords: positron emission tomography; lymph node metastasis; lymph nodes; lymphatic metastasis; sensitivity and specificity; radiopharmaceuticals; animal; animals; pathology; diagnostic agent; xenograft; instrumentation; lymph node; rat; fluorodeoxyglucose f 18; fluorodeoxyglucose f18; positron-emission tomography; predictive value of tests; radiopharmaceutical agent; scintiscanning; mesothelioma; transplantation, heterologous; radiography; rats; nude rat; rats, nude; predictive value; roc curve; receiver operating characteristic
Journal Title: Surgical Endoscopy
Volume: 25
Issue: 10
ISSN: 0930-2794
Publisher: Springer  
Date Published: 2011-10-01
Start Page: 3214
End Page: 3221
Language: English
PUBMED: 21512878
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC3269818
DOI: 10.1007/s00464-011-1696-z
DOI/URL:
Notes: --- - "Export Date: 1 March 2012" - "Source: Scopus"
Altmetric
Citation Impact
BMJ Impact Analytics
MSK Authors
  1. Mithat Gonen
    1029 Gonen
  2. Peter Brader
    25 Brader
  3. Maureen F Zakowski
    289 Zakowski
  4. Yuman Fong
    775 Fong
  5. Vivian Strong
    265 Strong
  6. Joyce Wong
    16 Wong