Characterization of simultaneous use of 125I and 99mTc in non-palpable breast cancer surgeries

Abstract

A new technique is being introduced to improve non-palpable breast cancer surgeries.The purpose of this method is to localize the tumour and the sentinel node using two radioactive tracers (RT): 125I(Seed) and 99mTc. The present research aims to characterize the detections of these two RTs using intraoperative gamma probe to determine if the detections are independent. We validated our proposal by performing experimental tests using the RT separately and simultaneously in order to visually compare them. The results demonstrated that the interference between 125I and 99mTc detections is nearly irrelevant during the surgery procedure.