technetium Tc 99m-dextran
(tek-NEE-shee-um ... DEK-stran)
A substance being studied as a way to find sentinel lymph nodes in some types of skin cancer and breast cancer. It contains a radioactive substance called technetium linked to a substance called dextran. Dextran helps technetium stay in blood and lymph vessels after it is injected. A machine or probe that detects radioactivity shows which lymph nodes near the tumor have technetium Tc 99m-dextran in them. Also called 99m-Tc-Dx and Tc-99m Dextran.