Identification of metastatic disease critically impacts the care and prognosis of patients with neoplasia. Multiple techniques exist for identifying the sentinel or first lymph node(s) that receive draining tumour lymph. Identification of the sentinel lymph node enables accurate tissue sampling for determination of lymphatic metastasis. The aims of this study were to develop a computed tomography (CT) protocol for identifying the sentinel lymph node in dogs with tumours of the head and neck. In addition, indirect CT lymphography was compared to lymphoscintigraphy and vital dye injection to determine which technique more reliably identified the sentinel lymph node. CT indirect lymphography using intratumoral injection of iodinated contrast identified draining lymphatic vessels in eight of 18 dogs and identified the sentinel lymph node in five of 18 dogs. CT indirect lymphography employing four‐quadrant peritumoral injection of iodinated contrast identified draining lymphatic vessels in 18 of 20 dogs and identified the sentinel lymph node in 11 of 20 dogs. Vital dye injection and lymphoscintigraphy identified the sentinel lymph node in 17 of 18 and 20 of 20 dogs, respectively. Identified sentinel lymph nodes were either ipsilateral or bilateral to the primary tumour. Both CT techniques were found to be safe and simple. Peritumoral injection has the greatest promise for the detection of sentinel lymph nodes in various head and neck cancers using CT, while lymphoscintigraphy had the greatest success of the compared techniques.

中文翻译：

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用于头颈癌前哨淋巴结检测的间接计算机断层扫描淋巴成像协议的开发以及与其他前哨淋巴结映射技术的比较

转移性疾病的识别严重影响肿瘤患者的护理和预后。存在多种技术来识别接收引流肿瘤淋巴液的前哨淋巴结或第一个淋巴结。前哨淋巴结的识别能够进行准确的组织取样，以确定淋巴转移。本研究的目的是开发计算机断层扫描 (CT) 协议，用于识别患有头颈部肿瘤的狗的前哨淋巴结。此外，将间接 CT 淋巴造影与淋巴显像和活体染料注射进行比较，以确定哪种技术更可靠地识别前哨淋巴结。使用瘤内注射碘对比剂的 CT 间接淋巴造影术确定了 18 只狗中有 8 只的引流淋巴管，并确定了 18 只狗中有 5 只的前哨淋巴结。采用四象限瘤周注射碘造影剂的 CT 间接淋巴造影术确定了 20 只狗中的 18 只引流淋巴管，并确定了 20 只狗中的 11 只前哨淋巴结。活体染料注射和淋巴显像分别在 18 只狗中的 17 只和 20 只狗中的 20 只中识别出前哨淋巴结。已识别的前哨淋巴结位于原发肿瘤的同侧或双侧。两种 CT 技术都被发现是安全和简单的。瘤周注射最有希望使用 CT 检测各种头颈癌的前哨淋巴结，