It is the first node in which the lymphatic drainage occura in a particular area.
Lymphoscintigraphy (sentinel lymph node mapping) is an imaging technique used to identify the lymph drainage basin, determine the number of sentinel nodes, differentiate sentinel nodes from subsequent nodes, locate the sentinel node in an unexpected location, and mark the sentinel node over the skin for biopsy.
It is the first node in which the lymphatic drainage occura in a particular area.
It is the first node in which the lymphatic drainage occura in a particular area.
A sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node that drains a cancer. If a cancer has not spread to the first draining lymph node near a cancer, there is a high likelihood it has not spread elsewhere.
A sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node that drains a cancer. If a cancer has not spread to the first draining lymph node near a cancer, there is a high likelihood it has not spread elsewhere.
sentinel
If by 'head node' you simply mean the first node, then yes; but if 'head node' means the special element which is not supposed to ever be deleted (aka sentinel node), then no.
A new technique called sentinel lymph node mapping and biopsy often eliminates the need for removing some or all lymph nodes by testing the first lymph node for cancer.
The last node typically points to NULL (meaning there is no next node). Some implementations make use of a sentinel node as this can make it easier to implement some algorithms (because the sentinel always exists even when the list is empty). In such implementations, both the head and the tail node may be sentinels.
These sentinel nodes are thus identifiable and are the most likely to harbor any regional metastatic disease. If these nodes alone are biopsied and are normal, the rest of the lymph node group can be spared.
Sentinel-node biopsy
Of primary importance to stage determination and regional lymph node involvement is identification and analysis of the sentinel lymph node.