Detection of sentinel lymph nodes with lymphazurin in cervical, uterine, and vulvar malignancies

Background. Identification of sentinel lymph nodes may allow prediction of metastatic disease in cancer patients. We did a prospective study to determ ine whether lymphazurin dye could identify sentinel lymph nodes in patients with cervical, uterine, and vulvar cancer. Methods. In 33 patients having surgery for either uterine, cervical, or vul var carcinoma, lymphazurin dye was injected into die respective organs befo re the tumor and node dissection began. Sentinel lymph nodes were identifie d and dissected in situ. Results. The identification rate of sentinel lymph nodes was 0/8 (0%) for u terine cancer patients, 2/13 (15.4%) for cervical cancer patients, and 9/12 for vulvar cancer patients (75%). Conclusions. In a limited number of patients, lymphazurin dye may be useful in identifying or assessing the sentinel nodes draining vulvar and cervica l cancers. The role of this procedure in treatment planning for patients wi th gynecologic malignancies is yet to be determined.