Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026
Use of Electromagnetic Navigational Transthoracic Needle Aspiration (E-TTNA) for Sampling of Lung Nodules
Published on: May 23, 2015
[Sentinel node biopsy for staging of small peripheral lung cancer]
1Department of Clinical Research, National Sanyo Hospital, Ube, Japan.
Unlabelled:
Is it possible to choose between limited lymph node sampling and systematic lymphadenectomy from the distribution of sentinel lymph nodes in patients with small lung cancer less than 2 cm in diameter?
Methods:
Twenty-four patients with cN0M0 lung cancer less than 2 cm in diameter were enrolled. A radioisotope tracer (Tc-99 m tin colloid or phyphate) was injected in the vicinity of the tumor before surgery under computed tomography (CT) guidance. The radioactivity of each resected lymph node was measured separately with a hand-held gamma probe after complete tumor resection. Sentinel nodes were identified and the accuracy of sentinel node mapping was examined.
Results:
Successful radionuclide migration occurred in 20 of the 24 patients (83.3%). There were 21 N0 patients and 3 N-positive patients. There was no false-negative case, so the sensitivity and the specificity was 100%. The lobar lymph nodes were identified as sentinel nodes more frequently than other lymph nodes.
Conclusion:
The sentinel node concept is valid in patients with small lung cancer less than 2 cm in diameter. We believe that, if sentinel nodes are identified, sentinel node mapping can allow the accurate intraoperative diagnosis of pathological N0 status in patients with small peripheral lung cancer.
