title: Clinical application of sentinel lymph node mapping in colon cancer: in vivo vs. ex vivo techniques.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Clinical usefulness of sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping in colorectal cancer remains controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of the SLN mapping technique using serial sectioning, and to compare the results between ex vivo and in vivo techniques.
  
  
  METHODS
  From February 2011 to October 2012, 34 colon cancer patients underwent SLN mapping during surgical resection. Eleven patients were analyzed with the in vivo method, and 23 patients with the ex vivo method. Patient characteristics and results of SLN mapping were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The SLN mapping was performed in 34 patients. Mean age was 67.3 years (range, 44-81 years). Primary tumors were located in the following sites: 13 in the right colon (38.2%) and 21 in the left colon (61.8%). SLN mapping was performed successfully in 88.2% of the patients. There was no significant difference in the identification rate between the two methods (90.9% vs. 87.0%, P = 1.000). Both the mapping methods showed a low sensitivity and high rate of skip metastasis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that SLN evaluation using serial sectioning could not predict the nodal status with clinically acceptable accuracy despite the high detection rate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Yeop
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Do Yoon
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Young Bae
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Kwang Wook
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Suh
keywords: Colon neoplasms; Sentinel lymph node biopsy