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.