Our goal is to do a simple, one-hour PET procedure, rather than invasive surgery. Dr. Coleman is principal investigator for the trial at Duke and will lead a multidisciplinary Duke team. Women who have had a positive biopsy for breast cancer and are scheduled for axillary lymph node surgery are asked if they would like to participate. The fact that the study may help other women can be an impetus for them to agree to be a part it. Dr. George S. Leight, professor of surgery, is the primary surgeon for the study.
PET produces an image that shows the concentration of radioisotopes within living tissues.
Since the early 1970s, PET has been used as a research tool, and in recent years has shown increasing potential for applications to clinical medicine. The PET scanning process takes about two hours. After about an hour, the glucose, which the body uses to produce energy, accumulates in tissues that use more glucose, such as growing tumors. The PET scanner is sensitive to small amounts of radioactivity, and produces images that show the concentrations of labeled glucose. After the women have had the PET scan and lymph node surgery, researchers will compare results from the two procedures.