Imaging technology of the lymphatic system

Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews journal recently published an interesting research work on lymphatic imaging methods and the advantages and disadvantages of these existing techniques. Generally, visualization of the lymphatic system was always less developed than imaging of blood vessels for example. The main reason is that this system is hardly visible to the naked eye even during the surgery. Nowadays, imaging techniques allow to visualize it both pre- and intra-operatively in such cases as lymphovenous anastomosis, lymph node transfer or tumor resection. Here's a few facts on the most used methods. X-ray lymphography- discovered in the 1960s, methylene blue is injected intradermally. Lymphoscintigraphy- a “gold standard” of imaging, radioactively labeled tracer in injected intradermal or subcutaneous. Fluorescence microlymphography- an “office” procedure to see the capillary lymphatic network. And magnetic resonance lymphography- a method that includes an injection of a T1-weighted Gd-based contrast agent. Find out more by the link!