Sentinel node mapping for gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND Sentinel lymph node mapping is the standard of care for patients with malignant melanoma and breast cancer. Recently, SLN mapping was introduced to the field of gastric cancer. OBJECTIVES To evaluate SLN mapping in patients with gastric cancer. METHODS In 43 patients with gastric cancer, open intraoperative subserosal dye injection in four opposing peritumoral points was used. Ten minutes following dye injection, stained LNs were located, marked and examined postoperatively from the surgical specimen. RESULTS SLN mapping was performed in 43 patients with gastric cancer; 782 lymph nodes were harvested and evaluated. SLNs were stained in 34 of the patients (79.1%) with a mean of 2.85 SLNs per patient. The false negative rate was 20.9%, the positive predictive value 100%, the negative predictive value 78.6% and the sensitivity 86.9%. CONCLUSIONS SLN mapping in patients with gastric cancer is feasible and easy to perform. SLN mapping may mainly affect the extent of lymph node dissection, and to a lesser degree gastric resection. However, more data are needed.