Abstract

GIL MARTINEZ, LUISA ELENA et al. Cáncer del tracto gastrointestinal estudio del ganglio centinela. Rev. venez. oncol. [online]. 2005, vol.17, n.4, pp.189-195. ISSN 0798-0582.

OBJECTIVES: Sentinel lymph node detection is a validated procedure for melanoma and breast cancer. Its use in gastrointestinal neoplasms is still under investigation. This procedure could improve lymph node staging, thus influencing treatment and prognosis in this type of cancer. We evaluate the feasibility of use this method in patients with diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancer. METHODS: Between August 2001 and May 2004, we included patients with histological diagnosis of early stage gastric and colon adenocarcinoma. At the beginning of the surgical proceeding, 1 mL of patent blue dye was injected around the tumor and in the subserous. The sentinel lymph node was identified during the surgical procedure. Surgery was then continued in the usual manner. Hematoxylin and eosin negative sentinel lymph nodes were studied with inmunohistochemistry stain. RESULTS: Nine patients were included, five with a diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma and four with a diagnosis of colonic adenocarcinoma. The sentinel lymph node detection rate was 66.6 %. The average number of sentinel nodes dissected in each case was 1.16. Two sentinel lymph nodes (33 %) were positive. One node (16 %) had micrometastatic disease detected by inmunohis-tochemistry. Skip metastasis were observed in one case (16 %). There were no false negatives or aberrant lymphatic drainage. CONCLUSIONS: The lymphatic mapping is a feasible procedure that increases the possibility of detection of micrometastasis.

Keywords : Cancer; stomach; colon; diagnosis; Sentinel lymph node.