The reliability of lymphoscintigraphy and gamma-detecting probe in detection of sentinel node in cervical cancer

A complete pelvic node dissection is associated with significant morbidity in cervical cancer. The aim of the study was to assess the reliability of lymphoscintgraphy and a gamma-detecting probe for identifying sentinel node (SN) in patients with cervical cancer. On 6 ∼ 24 hours before surgery, lymphoscintigram were obtained in all 11 patients with cervical cancer following peritumoral injection of Tc-99m-labelled Antimony sulfur colloid. And an intraoperative gamma-detecting probe was used to identify SN during surgery and sentinel nodes were submitted separately to pathologic evaluation. If the sentinal node was invaded, then a complete pelvic node dissection was performed. But pelvic nodes were preserved in the cases with SN being not invaded. Localization of the SN was successful in the all cases. The sentinel node was invaded in one case. Ten cases with SN being not invaded were turned out negative for lymph node metastases. Lymphoscintigraphy and SN biopsy under gamma-detecting probe guidance proved to be an easy and reliable method for the detection of SN in cervical cancer and could be helpful in determining the extent of node dissection in cervical cancer