Evolution of radionuclide imaging of sentinel node lymphscintigraphy in breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer that affects women worldwide. Axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy was introduced in the 1900s and has become a routine in breast-conserving surgery to ensure survival of patients and reduce complications related to the disease. The importance of the internal mammary sentinel lymph node, in addition to the axillary sentinel lymph node, cannot be ignored. A controversial issue is whether to accept the internal mammary sentinel lymph node as object of sentinel node biopsy. Nuclear medicine researchers have extensively investigated the response of sentinel node lymphoscintigraphy to clinical requirements, thereby improving the detection rate of both axillary and internal mammary sentinel lymph nodes. This review presents the evolution of sentinel node lymphoscintigraphy in terms of nuclide tracer, injection technology, and imaging devices over an almost 10-year period locally and internationally. (authors)