Sentinel node biopsy helps to diagnose spread of endometrial cancer. A case report

The sentinel lymph node (SLN) could improve the staging of endometrial cancer. In a patient with endometrial cancer, preoperative lymphoscintigraphy showed a highly radioactive SLN in the left external iliac chain and a radioactive SLN in the right external iliac chain and at the promontory. Intraoperative lymphatic mapping using blue dye and a hand-held gamma probe showed the same nodes, as well as a blue node near the vena cava. Selective removal of these nodes allowed detection of a micrometastasis in the left external iliac node. Pelvic node dissection was performed, and a micrometastasis was found in a left non sentinel iliac node. The presence in our patient of micrometastases in a SLN and in a non-SLN belonging to the same chain confirms the value of SLN detection for diagnosing tumor spread.