Radioisotope lymphoscintigraphy in prostate cancer: a modern view on the problem

An accurate understanding of the ways of lymphatic drainage in prostate cancer allows to solve one of the important tasks of clinical oncourology - staging and treatment of the disease, as the lesion neoplastic process of the regional lymph nodes is one of the most important independent factors of prognosis in patients. Historically, interest in the study of lymph prostate first showed surgeons to address two issues: to establish proper boundaries lymphodissection in radical surgical treatment and to minimize its volume to reduce the frequency of complications. However, the importance of accurate diagnosis of metastatic lymph nodes is no less important and at carrying out of radiotherapy. High risk of nodal invasion to allow correct selection of methods of treatment is brachytherapy as monotherapy or in combination with external beam radiation therapy. Knowledge of the level of involvement of the pelvic lymph nodes and ways of lymph outflow in patients with prostate cancer is of particular importance in the choice of volume radiation fields, which is especially important when using new high-tech methods of radiotherapy that enable you to reliably control the disease at the stage of its locoregional spread. However, the sensitivity of the most common medical imaging techniques in the diagnosis of metastatic lymph nodes remains at a low level. In this context, a vital question of the possibility of using new methods of radionuclide diagnostics in imaging sentinel lymph nodes and ways of lymph flow in patients with prostate cancer.