Assessment of sentinel lymph node in cervical cancer: review of literature
- 1Department of Anatomic Pathology, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- 2Division of Gynecology Oncology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
- 3Department of Applied Molecular Oncology, Princess Margaret Hospital/Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto, Canada
- Correspondence to Golnar Rasty, Department of Anatomic Pathology, University Health Network, 11th floor, East Eaton Wing, 200 Elizabeth Street, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5G 2C4; golnar.rasty{at}uhn.on.ca
- Accepted 6 April 2009
- Published Online First 11 September 2009
Abstract
Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a novel method for the surgical management of patients with cervical cancer. Sentinel nodes have a higher chance of harbouring metastases than non-sentinel nodes. Assessment of sentinel nodes provides an opportunity to stage patients intraoperatively and avoid complete pelvic lymph node dissection and hence its morbidities. The aim of this article is to review the diagnostic performance of sentinel node detection, to determine which technique (blue dye, Tc or both) has the highest detection rate and sensitivity, and also to illustrate different approaches of histological assessment of the sentinel lymph node biopsy.
Footnotes
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Competing interests None.
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Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
