A new approach to label sentinel nodes in endometrial cancer

PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to determine the feasibility of a new method of labeling sentinel lymph nodes in patients with endometrial cancer using blue dye. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 4 ml of blue dye was subserously administered in 25 patients with endometrial cancer at eight sites. After 8 min, sentinel lymph nodes were harvested. RESULTS: Detection rate was 92.0%, sensitivity was 62.5%, and negative predictive value was 92.5%. In two patients there was no detection of sentinel nodes and in addition in two patients only sentinel nodes were harvested due to minimal disease. No side effects occurred. CONCLUSIONS: This new and simple approach yielded a high pelvic detection rate. This new approach reveals a way to label sentinel nodes in endometrial cancer. Combining a different labeling agent with the proposed new method might overcome the lack of para-aortic sentinel detection.