SKIMS performs its first Sentinal Lymphnode Scintigraphy

SRINAGAR — The Department of Nuclear Medicine in Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) conducted the first case of Sentinal Lymphnode Scintigraphy in breast cancer patients on Saturday.

In a statement, a hospital spokesperson said the sample will be taken for SLN biopsy by the Department of Surgical Oncology, while this is another major milestone achieved by the department, benefitting cancer patients.

As per the statement, the Head of the Department Dr. Tanvir Ahmad informed that patients with breast cancer, tongue cancer, and melanoma are going to get benefitted from this procedure. “The procedure is the first of its kind available to the patients of J&K and will go a long way in improving the treatment of cancer patients.”

He said that Lymphoscintigraphy is an imaging technique that is used to identify the lymph drainage basin, determine the number of sentinel nodes, differentiate sentinel nodes from subsequent nodes, locate the sentinel node in an unexpected location, and mark the sentinel node over the skin for biopsy.

Director SKIMS Prof. Parvaiz A Koul complimented the department for conducting the procedure. “The advanced procedure will help poor patients which will be conducted now routinely at SKIMS,” he said, as reported by news agency KNO.

He added the patients had to go outside for such procedures, facing a lot of inconveniences and incurring a lot of expenditures. The procedure, now available at SKIMS, will facilitate such patients.