Technique et résultats du prélèvement du ganglion sentinelle dans les cancers du col et du corps de l'utérus

In both cervical and endometrial cancers, the lymph node status is an important prognostic factor and a major criterion in decision making concerning an indication for neoadjuvant chemotherapy, which makes the lymph node dissection mandatory. The sentinel lymph node detection has been developed in the aim of reducing surgical morbidity. It appears to constitute a major advance in the management of patients with various malignancies. Its clinical utility became rapidly obvious in malignant melanoma, vulvar cancer and, more recently, breast cancer. In uterine cancers, this procedure is still at the feasibility phase. The present article presents the technical aspects, and the first published results on the potential role of sentinel lymph node detection in cervical or endometrial cancers.