Internal mammary lymphoscintigraphy in the assessment of patients with ovarian carcinoma

Abstract

Radiocolloid internal mammary lymphoscintigraphy (IML) was evaluated in 364 patients with ovarian carcinoma to determine the frequency of abnormalities in post-operative patients, the association between the results of the lymphoscintigram and known clinical prognostic variables, and to establish whether IML yielded predictive information independent of these variables. Results of IML showed a correlation with established clinical prognostic features and yielded independent prognostic information. The sensitivity and specificity of IML in predicting relapse are 51% and 71% respectively, indicating that a single post-operative IML does not predict relapse or freedom from relapse with sufficient accuracy to make it a clinically useful test even though it provides an independent prediction of relapse.