Diagnostic evaluation of sentinel lymph node biopsy in early head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in early head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).


METHODS
The PubMed database was searched for studies published before October 31, 2012. Pooled values for the sentinel lymph node identification rate, sensitivity, false-negative rate, negative predictive value, and accuracy were calculated.


RESULTS
A total of 16 studies (987 patients) was included. The pooled identification rate, sensitivity, false-negative rate, negative predictive value, and accuracy were 95.2%, 86.3%, 13.7%, 94.2%, and 95.0%, respectively. The subgroup with high methodological quality showed a mean identification rate of 95.4% for SLNB validation trials and 94.2% for SLNB alone trials, and mean sensitivity of 91.0% for SLNB validation trials and 84.2% for SLNB alone trials.


CONCLUSIONS
The SLNB procedure has shown a high sensitivity rate, but the pooled sensitivity and false-negative rate were worse in SLNB alone trials than in SLNB validation trials.
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan.
Kohichi
K
Yamauchi
Yasunao
Y
Kogashiwa
Takehiro
T
Nakamura
Yorihisa
Y
Moro
Hiroshi
H
Nagafuji
Naoyuki
N
Kohno
D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D000077195:Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck
head and neck cancer; meta-analysis; sensitivity; sentinel lymph node; squamous cell carcinoma