A Clinical Feasibility Study of a Photoacoustic Finder

Determining the prognosis of breast cancer relies significantly on axillary staging by sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNb). The SLNb is generally performed using radioisotopes, blue dyes, or both to improve the false negative rate. However, a gamma probe with radioisotopes involves ionizing radiation, and blue dye detection relies on visual inspection by an operator. To overcome these limitations, the photoacoustic finder (PAF) was developed as a highly sensitive, non-radioactive detector that uses only blue dye and a photoacoustic signal to detect SLNs. To evaluate the PAF, its performance was compared with the standard SLN detection method for breast cancer patients.