A new Australian first surgical technique using a probe to target lymph nodes affected by cancer around the prostate

A new Australian first surgical technique using a probe, developed by the Netherlands Cancer Institute and The University Hospital Leiden, to target lymph nodes affected by cancer around the prostate was performed at St Vincent's Private Hospital Sydney.

Urologist Prof Phillip Stricker and A/Prof Louise Emmett, Nuclear Medicine Physician, are conducting this clinical trial targeting prostate cancer in collaboration with the Netherlands Cancer Institute, the University Hospital Leiden and the Martini Clinic in Hamburg Germany and Eurorad.

The robot-assisted, radio-guided surgery involves injecting a technetium radioactive isotope which gets taken up by cancer cells around the prostate. Surgeons are then able to detect this isotope during the operation using this new probe to try and find where this cancer has spread.