Areolar-Cutaneous Junction Injection Boosts Activity in Sentinel Node by More than 50 Times Compared to Perilesional Injection: Implications for Morbidity Reduction

The combination of concurrently administered perilesional radiotracer injections and areolar-cutaneous junction radiotracer injections during one imaging session in the detection of sentinel nodes (SN) in breast cancer is new. A case is presented where the perilesional injections of radiotracer produced a faint node. Subsequently, 45 minutes later, the same patient received an injection of radiotracer at the areolar-cutaneous junction, which “boosted” the activity in the original SN by more than 50 times. This case illustrates the marked improvement in SN counts that can occur with the addition of areolar-cutaneous junction injections to perilesional injections. The perilesional component of this hybrid injection technique maintains the ability to visualize internal mammary and extra-axillary SN. Even more importantly, these “hotter” nodes have significant implications for morbidity reduction, the main goal of sentinel lymph node biopsy in itself.