Practical considerations in selecting and using intraoperative gamma probes

Intraoperative gamma probes have been widely used in the operation theatres since the development of the sentinel lymph node technique in breast cancer and melanoma.The selection of a suitable probe among all the commercial offers is often a delicate task due to a lack of standardized performance parameters. The capabilities of a gamma probe have to be evaluated in view of the practical objectives encountered for the detection, in relation with the injected activity and tracer distribution. This paper reviews the useful parameters to be accounted for when selecting a gamma peroperative probe and relates them to the corresponding clinical situations.