The FDA has approved a new product to help find lymph nodes in breast cancer melanoma patients. The treatment, called Lymphoseek, combines a compound that binds to lymph nodes with a radioactive label.
The mapping aid is made by Navidea Biopharmaceuticals of Dublin, Ohio, and allows doctors to find the nodes most likely to enable tumor metastasis. It is used by injection near tumor sites, and then doctors use a handheld radiation detector to find flagged nodes.
"Lymphoseek is the first new drug used for lymph node mapping to be approved in more than 30 years," the FDA said in an official statement.
Dr. Shaw Chen, deputy director of the Office of Drug Evaluation IV in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, added his own statement, noting:
"Removal and pathological examination of lymph nodes draining a primary tumor is an important diagnostic evaluation for some patients with breast cancer or melanoma. To use Lymphoseek, doctors inject the drug into the tumor area and later, using a handheld radiation detector, find lymph nodes that have taken up Lymphoseek's radioactivity."
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