The Future

Abstract

It is clear that significant developments will take place, on a wide front, in the fascinating field of sentinel node detection. At the very least this will lead to renewed interest in the study of the lymphatics in health and in disease. With the improved imaging techniques at our disposal and with better and more stable radiopharmaceuticals, the detailed study of patterns of lymph drainage and the mapping of lymph node basins will gain renewed focus. Much has been learned from the initial efforts of many and we now understand better the conditions which must be met in order to obtain reproducible and physiologically meaningful data. Further understanding the role of the lymphatic system in man will help to clarify the mechanisms and conditions which preside over the spread of disease and will also help to stratify patients more accurately into groups at high, low or intermediate risk. Developments are expected in most if not all of the areas covered in this text, and in this summary it will not be feasible to detail all the possible avenues of progress. Some are described below.