Regional lymph node staging using lymphotropic nanoparticle enhanced magnetic resonance imaging with ferumoxtran-10 in patients with penile cancer.

PURPOSE: We evaluated lymphotropic nanoparticle enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (LNMRI) with ferumoxtran-10 in determining the presence of regional lymph node metastases in patients with penile cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the penis underwent LNMRI. All patients subsequently underwent groin dissection and the nodal images were correlated with histology.

RESULTS: We found that LNMRI had sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of 100%, 97%, 81.2% and 100%, respectively, in predicting the presence of regional lymph node metastases in patients with penile cancer.

CONCLUSIONS: Lymph node scanning using LNMRI accurately predicts the pathological status of regional lymph nodes in patients with cancer of the penis. LNMRI may accurately triage patients for regional lymphadenectomy.