Radio navigated sentinel node detection in carcinomas of the oral cavity

Head and neck is the one of the most anatomically complex region of human body. The knowledge of the morphology of the lymphatic system of this region is crucial for understanding of metastatic spread of tumor cells of the head and neck. It is well known, that in the case of metastatic invasion of head and neck lymphatic nodes the overall survival rates drops to 50 %, and the tumors in this region are know for their early metastatic spread. Sentinel node biopsy in the case of head and neck tumors can spare the patient of extensive head lymphatic node dissection and can help with the detection of occult metastasis of lymphatic nodes. Preoperational lymphoscintigraphy and per operational radio navigated detection of sentinel nodes in this region has its specific issues, which we might not find in sentinel node detection in the case of breast cancer or malignant melanoma. We present our first experiences with sentinel node detection in 12 patients with mucosal carcinoma of the oral cavity. (author)