Novel Imaging Technique May Reduce Lymphedema in Breast Cancer Patients

SAN ANTONIO — With guidance from a specialized scan, radiation oncologists at Mayo Clinic were able to reduce by 55 percent the number of lymph nodes critical for removing fluid from the arm that received damaging radiation doses.

The researchers report that integrating single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT) with the computerized tomography(CT) scans utilized for breast cancer radiotherapy planning may offer patients substantial protection against lymphedema, an incurable, chronic swelling of tissue that results from damage to lymph nodes sustained during breast cancer radiation. The SPECT-CT scan pinpoints the precise locations of the lymph nodes that are critical for removing fluid from the arm, allowing physicians to block them, as much as possible, from X-ray beams delivered to the chest.

These findings were presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

source: Mayo Clinic