Objectives
To determine the clearance of a radionuclide from various sizes of footpad melanomas via lymphatics and to measure the diameters of these vessels.
Design
Nonrandomized animal study.
Setting
A hospital research laboratory.
Subjects
C57BL/6 mice.
Interventions
Female mice were injected in the right rear footpad with B16 F10 cells that were allowed to grow to either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 mm in anteroposterior diameter. Clearance from feet with or without tumors of injected technetium Tc 99m human serum albumin (99mTcHSA) was assessed for 200 minutes. Calf lymphatic diameters were measured using aniline blue dye.
Results
The clearance of the injected99mTcHSA from mouse footpads without tumors was 1.26±0.18x10–4 mL/minxcm3 of tissue. Clearance increased 2.24-fold to 2.82±0.12x10–4 mL/minxcm3 of tissue from 1-mm tumors and to 6.20±0.08, 6.11±0.13, 6.91±0.58, and 7.23±0.48x10–4 mL/minxcm3 of tissue from 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-mm tumors, respectively (P<.05). Calf lymphatic diameters increased from 75.41±9.72 µm in naive, nontumor-bearing mice to 93.51±7.12, 111.61±27.07, 126.69±25.20, 124.43±24.75, and 127.44±25.35 µm 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-mm tumors, respectively (P<.01).
Conclusions
There was a size-dependent, direct correlation between increasing tumor size in the footpad and increasing diameter of lymphatics draining the footpad. Clearance of injected99mTcHSA from these tumors also exhibited a similar positive correlation with tumor size.
Arch Surg. 1997;132:311-315
