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Preoperative Localisation of the Sentinel Lymph Node in Breast Cancer

NCT01154972 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 59

Last updated 2018-05-11

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

When a person has breast cancer it is necessary to find out whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in the armpit because if it has, further treatment is likely to be needed. There are many of these nodes but when the breast cancer spreads, it does so in a step-by-step fashion, starting with the so-called Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN). At present, the only way to be sure whether there is cancer in the lymph nodes or not is to perform an operation to remove at least the SLN. If the pathologist finds cancer in the SLN, a second operation is usually required to remove further nodes in case they contain cancer too. Surgical removal of the lymph nodes in the armpit can cause difficulties for the patient afterwards, such as pain and swelling in the arm. If there is no cancer in the SLN, no further operations on the armpit are needed. The investigators wish to find out whether in some patients, operations on the armpit can be avoided completely. The first step in doing this is to test whether the investigators can find out which is the SLN before the operation, using a combination of an injection and ultrasound scanning. The injection - into the skin of the breast - would be a radioactive substance, which is the usual way the surgeon finds the SLN. The radioactive substance collects in the SLN and the investigators would use a "gamma probe" over the surface of the armpit to detect the radiation. In this initial study, the investigators would aim to find the SLN before the operation and place a marker wire in it so that the surgeon could check whether the investigators had found the correct node.

Conditions

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Preoperative sentinel lymph node identification and marking

SLN is identified using gamma probe and ultrasound. Percutaneous wire placement carried out to mark SLN for subsequent surgical verification.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Dundee

    collaborator OTHER

  • NHS Tayside

    lead OTHER_GOV

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2010-04-30
Primary Completion
2012-11-01
Completion
2013-05-10

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01154972 on ClinicalTrials.gov