Endometrial and cervical cancer patients with multiple sentinel lymph nodes at laparoscopic ICG mapping: How many are enough?
OBJECTIVE
The adoption of a sentinel lymph node (SLN) algorithm and the presence of high bilateral detection rates have been associated with increased accuracy of SLN mapping in cervical and endometrial cancer patients. In this context, the significance of the number of SLNs removed has not yet been investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate (a) whether or not a higher SLN removal count is associated with a reduced false-negative rate and (b) which clinical factors correlate with the number of SLNs removed.


METHODS
Patients with cervical or endometrial cancer who underwent SLN mapping with bilateral SLN detection followed by lymphadenectomy were evaluated retrospectively. On the basis of the mean number of the SLNs removed, the patients were divided in two groups: Group 1 included patients with up to 3 SLNs removed and Group 2 included patients with more than 3 SLNs removed. Factors predicting a higher SLN count were evaluated using univariate and multivariate analysis.


RESULTS
Eighty-four patients met the inclusion criteria. The two groups consisted of 42 patients each and differed only by the median SLN count. Two endometrial cancer patients in Group 1 had false-negative pelvic SLNs and isolated para-aortic metastases; no false-negative SLNs were recorded in Group 2 (p = n.s.). The results of multivariate analysis indicted that the number of SLNs removed was influenced only in cases where the operating surgeon had performed more than 20 laparoscopic ICG SLN mappings.


CONCLUSIONS
A higher SLN count does not seem to increase the accuracy of SLN mapping in cervical and endometrial cancer patients.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Berne and University of Berne, Effingerstrasse 102, 3010, Bern, Switzerland. andrea.papadia@insel.ch.
Andrea
A
Papadia
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Berne and University of Berne, Effingerstrasse 102, 3010, Bern, Switzerland.
Sara
S
Imboden
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Berne and University of Berne, Effingerstrasse 102, 3010, Bern, Switzerland.|Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Maria Luisa
ML
Gasparri
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Berne and University of Berne, Effingerstrasse 102, 3010, Bern, Switzerland.
Franziska
F
Siegenthaler
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Berne and University of Berne, Effingerstrasse 102, 3010, Bern, Switzerland.
Anja
A
Fink
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Berne and University of Berne, Effingerstrasse 102, 3010, Bern, Switzerland.
Michael D
MD
Mueller
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007208:Indocyanine Green / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*
D007208:Indocyanine Green
Cervical cancer; Echelon lymph nodes; Endometrial cancer; Indocyanine green; Sentinel lymph node count; Sentinel lymph node mapping