Sentinel nodal assessment in patients with carcinoma of the lung

Assessment of sentinel nodes to predict metastases in a regional nodal basin is valuable for staging patients with melanoma and breast carcinoma. This study tested whether injection of isosulfan blue and technetium-99 could identify mediastinal sentinel nodes in patients with lung carcinoma and determine whether sentinel node histology predicts distal nodal metastases.

Isosulfan blue and technetium-99 were injected into the tumor and pulmonary resection performed. The hilum and mediastinum were assessed visually and with the gamma probe, and a mediastinal nodal dissection was performed.

Thirty-one patients were evaluated. Three patients had positive sentinel nodes and positive distal mediastinal nodes. Twenty-two patients had negative sentinel nodes and negative distal nodes. No sentinel node was identified in 6 patients and 2 patients had two sentinel nodes.

These data demonstrate that this rapid, simple technique can identify sentinel nodes in the mediastinum and that the sentinel node is an accurate predictor of distal nodal metastases in patients with lung cancer.