Anthropometric measures and nutritional indices influencing sentinel node visualization on breast cancer patients

Fifty female patients with breast cancer were evaluated at the Nuclear Medicine Centre IPEN-INEN. These patients were previously scheduled for linfoscintigraphy. An analysis of the following factors was performed: height, weight, body mass index (BMI), age, thoracic perimeter, tumour size and time required for sentinel node identification; in order to determine their influence on uptake and visualization of the sentinel node, using a standard dose of radiopharmaceutical, 5mCi of Dextran labelled with Technetium-99m (Tc-99m). This study demonstrates that weight, BMI, age, thoracic perimeter and tumour size affect time required for sentinel node identification. The variables previously mentioned must be considered when performing linfoscintigraphy for optimization of this procedure. (orig.)