The main interest in the sentinel node (SN) detection concept has led to the development of several prototypes of hand held gamma cameras. After the first successful clinical trials with intra-operative imaging probes, the time has come to evaluate the potential benefits of these devices. The objective of this review was to show the potential interest of a hand-held camera POCI to perform a lymphoscintigraphy in order to precisely localize SNs in patients with breast cancer.