Solitary lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer as a basis for sentinel lymph node biopsy

BACKGROUND/AIMS: In order to examine the biology of sentinel lymph node of stomach cancer, we investigated solitary lymph node metastases that were hypothesized to represent sentinel lymph node. METHODOLOGY: In the 4,620 primary gastric cancers between 1964 and 1997, 1271 cases with a localized tumor were selected and the localization of the solitary metastases in relation to the primary tumors were studied. RESULTS: Of the 130 tumors with a single basin metastasis, only 71% of the tumors in the upper third, 75% of the middle and 80% of the lower involved the node basins in the close vicinity. In the anterior wall and the greater curvature the rates of adjacent metastasis were more than 90%, while in the posterior wall and the lesser curvature they were 76% and 43%, respectively. Metastases of the remaining cases were found at more distant basins. CONCLUSIONS: In stomach cancer sensitivity of sentinel lymph node biopsy would be very low by the exploration of the adjacent basin especially for the lesions in the lesser curvature and posterior wall.