Radioactive clear liquid tracer vs blue dye

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Luckydog42
Luckydog42 Member Posts: 51
edited November 2014 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

Can someone please explain the difference between the two? I read on another thread about how many women thought their shot was painful and others did not. Could it be they had a different type of shot? What are these used for? I did ask my breast surgeon's nurse if I was getting a dye shot before my UMX and she said it happens after I am put under. So I am confused...why do all these other women get it beforehand? I am also wondering if my nurse is wrong and that I will get a shot before the surgery.

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  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited November 2014

    One or the other, or both, are used for identification of the sentinel lymph node(s) in the axilla.  This injection is done prior to mastectomy (sometimes day before, sometimes in pre-op, sometimes in the OR) as breast tissue is required for the injected substance to travel to the sentinel(s).  Whether or not you have the radioactive or colored dye, or both, and when this procedure is done is dependent on the facility your surgery is performed in and your physician's preferences.  There is not a single standard method, but rather a number of possibilities.  Here is some info from BCO that explains SNB.

    http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/lymph_node_removal/sentinel_dissection/process


     

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  • hummingbirdlover
    hummingbirdlover Member Posts: 421
    edited November 2014

    I had the radioactive blue dye injected about 3 hrs before my bmx surgery, at the hospital. They shot it in to my right breast and then I went through something similar to an MRI and they located the sentinel node and drew a circle in my underarm where it was. It was not painful at all. My urine was blue for the day after surgery but that was it.

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  • Ariom
    Ariom Member Posts: 6,197
    edited November 2014

    I had the tracer first, it was injected a couple of hours before my Umx and I was scanned, to locate the Sentinel Node, then my Surgeon injected the blue dye once I was under anesthetic. He then found the node with a geiger counter type instrument and removed it.

    That is just the standard of care, where I had my surgery, but I have heard of others who had a different procedure.

    My procedure was totally painless.

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