Sentinel node study with patent blue in cervical cancer

The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of sentinel node identification in patients with invasive cervix cancer undergoing radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy using intraoperative lymphatic mapping with patent blue dye. Fifty one patients wtih Figo I and II cervical cancer were submitted to radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy. The patent blue V was injected around the tumor before beginning surgery. At the time of pelvic lymphadenectomy, lymph nodes with obvious uptake of the dye were separated from the remainder of the lymphadenectomy specimen. Sentinel nodes were detected in 32 of the 51 patients. Four cases of false negative were observed. The specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 38.6%, 42.8%, 10% and 80.9%, respectively. Identification of sentinel node with patent blue dye is feasible in cervical cancer. A larger series will be required to establish sentinel detection in cervical cancer for further therapy concepts and planning.