Sentinel lymph node mapping with carbon nanoparticles in endometrial cancer

Aim: A retrospective study was conducted to explore the value of sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping with carbon nanoparticles (CNP) in endometrial cancer patients. Methods: Seventy-six endometrial cancer patients who underwent sentinel lymph node mapping with or without systemic pelvic lymphadenectomy were involved in this study. All patients received cervical injection of carbon nanoparticles. The detection frequency for sentinel lymph nodes was calculated for all 76 patients, while the sensitivity and negative predictive value for metastasis were calculated for patients who underwent additional systemic pelvic lymphadenectomy (n=43). Clinical factors associated with sentinel lymph node detection were also evaluated. Results: The overall and bilateral detection frequencies were 71.1% (54/76) and 61.1% (33/54), respectively. A total of 291 sentinel lymph nodes were removed from 54 patients, with the median number removed per patient being 4 (range 3-7). sentinel lymph nodes were mostly located in the external lilac (45.7%) and obturator (41.2%) regions. Fifteen positive lymph nodes including 6 positive sentinel lymph nodes were found in 5 patients. Two of the five patients failed sentinel lymph node mapping but showed positive lymph nodes after systemic pelvic lymphadenectomy. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of sentinel lymph node mapping were therefore both 100%. Conclusion: The detection frequency of sentinel lymph node mapping with carbon nanoparticles in endometrial cancer patients was not as high as for some other cancer types. However, the accuracy of this method was high despite the relatively low detection frequency. More research is needed to improve sentinel lymph node mapping in endometrial cancer patients.

Sentinel lymph node; Endometrial cancer; Carbon nanoparticles

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