Sentinel lymph node detection in early-stage ovarian cancer: primary results and perspectives

Aim: to evaluate the results of sentinel-lymph-node (SLN) mapping in detecting lymph node metastasis in apparently early-stage ovarian cancer. Material and Methods. The prospective unicentric study included 48 patients with stage I–IIA ovarian cancer who underwent surgical staging at the Department of Gynecological Oncology of N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology from 2022 to 2024. Patients were injected with indocyanine green dye into the infundibulo-pelvic and utero-ovarian ligaments (or ligament’s stumps) to map and remove sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). After the SLNs were identified and removed, pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy was performed. Results. Of 48 patients, 40 (83.3 %) had successful mapping of at least one SLN. Three patients (7.5 %) had positive nodes: 1 patient (2.5 %) had metaststic para-aortic SLN; 1 patient (2.5 %) had false-negative para-aortic SLN; and 1 patient (2.5 %) had metastatic pelvic lymph node without SLN detection in this region. Thus, the SLN mapping detection rate was 50 % for metastatic lymph nodes in the para-aortic region. None of the patients with detected SLN in the pelvic region had metastatic lymph nodes. No complications related to SLN technique were observed. Conclusion. The results of this prospective study do not demons trate that lymph nodes status can be fully predicted by SLN evaluation. Further prospective studies are required to evaluate experience of SLN detection in early-stage ovarian cancer.