Intradermal administration of fluorescent contrast agents for delivery to axillary lymph nodes

In this proof-of-concept study we seek to demonstrate the delivery of fluorescent contrast agent to the tumor-draining lymph node basin following intraparenchymal breast injections and intradermal arm injection of micrograms of indocyanine green in 20 breast cancer patients undergoing complete axillary lymph node dissection. Individual lymph nodes were assessed ex vivo for presence of fluorescent signal. In all, 88% of tumor-negative lymph nodes and 81% of tumor-positive lymph nodes were fluorescent. These results indicate that future studies utilizing targeted fluorescent contrast agents may demonstrate improved surgical and therapeutic intervention.