title: [Application value of sentinel node biopsy in early stage oral tongue cancer with clinically negative neck].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the liability of sentinel node biopsy in the treatment of early stage oral tongue carcinoma with clinically negative neck.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighteen patients with T1 or T2 oral tongue carcinoma were enrolled in the prospective study. Preoperative lymphoscintigraphy and intra-operative hand-held gamma probe techniques were used to detect the sentinel lymph nodes. The sentinel lymph node biopsies were sent to frozen section pathology and the results were compared with specimen of routine selective neck dissection (I ∼ III or I ∼ IV). The accuracy of cervical metastasis prediction was compared between sentinel node biopsy and tumor thickness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sentinel lymph nodes were identified in all 18 cases. The numbers of sentinel lymph nodes of level Ib, IIa and III were 6, 22 and 2, respectively. In this series, positive sentinel lymph nodes were revealed in 4 cases, which were also positive in the postoperative routine histology.In other cases, both sentinel lymph nodes and routine histology were negative. Both the sensitivity and specificity were 100%. Sentinel lymph node biopsy obviously improved the specificity of predicting cervical metastasis comparing with the tumor thickness. (100% vs. 36.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sentinel node biopsy is effective and reliable in the treatment of early stage oral tongue cancer, and deserves clinical application.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiao-lei
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Li-yan
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Kan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhen-gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000601:surgery; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*