Radio-guided sentinel lymph node detection in gastric cancer patients

Efficacy of radio-guided sentinel lymph node detection in gastric cancer patients was assessed. The study included 46 patients. Lymphotropic radioactive tracer (99mTc-Nanocis) at a dose of 80 MBq was administered to 22 patients during endoscopy on the day before surgery and to 26 patients during surgery by means of subserosal injections. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 93 %, 100 % and 96 % for patients with intraoperative injection of radioactive tracer and 75 %, 100 % and 86 %, respectively for patients with endoscopic administration of radioactive tracer. Histological examination revealed metastatic involvement of sentinel lymph nodes in 47 % of patients. No «skip»-metastases were registered irrespective of the stage and site of the tumor. Frequency of metastatic involvement of sentinel lymph nodes was increasing as the depth of tumor invasion into the gastric wall, sizes and grade of tumor differentiation were growing.