Nodal staging is a key-step in the pre-treatment assessment of cervical cancer [1]. Lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymphadenectomy (LM/SL) have been successfully used as a minimally invasive surgery in the early stage of cervical cancer [2]. LM/SL allows the detection of lymph node micrometastases with a sensitivity > 90%. It also allows the exclusion of LN metastases in the lymphatic basin draining the primary tumor with a high negative predictive value > 90%, thereby avoiding the cost and the morbidity of unnecessary complete lymph node dissection (CLND) in the majority of patients with negative sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) [3].
By Dr T Z Belhocine & Dr M Prefontaine