Research On The Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy By Dye-guided Method In Cancer Of Oral Cavity

For the patient with cancer of oral cavity ,with a high risk rate of cervical lymph node ,the histopathlogic status of cervical lymph node is an important prognostic factor .Performing radical neck dissection (RND) is routinely with the presence of cN+ neck .while the management of the NO neck is controversial ,that depends on a reliable per-operation neck staging. We examined the feasibility and predictive ability of sentinel lymph node biopsy by dye-guided method. We studied 17 untreated patients with cancer of oral cavity (6cNO, 6 cN1, 2cN2). Each of them underwent the RND, with the injection of 1% Methylene blue intra- operation, and then .after operation ,the SLN sent to histopathologic exam with other lymph node .In 12 of 15 patients ,we located the SLN(80%),(6 of 12 are cNO.another 6 are cNl),In 11of the 12 ,SLN can accurately predicted the pathologic status of cervical lymph node(accuracy is 91.7%). The negative predictive value (NPV) is 87.5%. based on our findings ,and those other authors, we concluded that, sentinel lymph node biopsy by dye-guided method.is efficiency to predict the neck status of cNO patient with cancer of oral cavity, but the number of the patient in our serial is so small that the clinical experience with the technique is limited. The sentinel lymph node biopsy by dye-guided method need further clinical trail.