Rapid Assessment of Sentinel Lymph Node Metastasis Status Using a Pan-CK-targeting NIR-II Fluorescent Probe in Breast Cancer

Breast malignant tumors are a serious threat to women's health, and the current treatment for breast malignant tumors is still dominated by surgery, but the problems faced by patients after surgery such as edema and tumor recurrence are still relatively common, and the high recurrence rate and the occurrence of postoperative complications are closely related to the removal of metastatic lymph nodes during surgery. Therefore, accurate assessment of sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastases is essential to determine the extent of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) and minimize complications. In this study, we developed a new technique that can rapidly distinguish between metastatic lymph nodes and normal sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in breast cancer patients. Briefly, fresh tissue is incubated with the probe and imaged immediately after intraoperative sentinel lymph node resection to identify the metastatic status of SLN. The accuracy of fluorescence imaging is confirmed by pathological diagnosis.