Clinical study on the micrometastasis of sentinel lymph nodes in oral squamous cell carcinoma / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the feasibility and predictive ability of the sentinel node localization technique for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and determine whether the pathology of the SLN reflected the status of all the neck lymph nudes. Methods Perioperative use of a gamma probe identified radioactive SLNs. The pathology of the SLN was compared with that of the remaining neck dissection. Results Sentinel lymph node biopsy was performed on 20 cases. SLNs were found in 16 necks, among them 6 were found to be subclinical metastases. The SLN was the only lymph node containing tumor in 5 of 6. Conclusions Our preliminary investigation shows that sentinel node localization is technically feasible and predictive of cervical metastasis. SLN biopsy may aid in identifying the clinically N0 patient with occult lymph node metastasis and has the potential to decrease the number of neck dissections performed in clinically negative necks.