[Feasibility and morbidity of sentinel lymph node detection in patients with vulvar carcinoma]

The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and the morbidity of sentinel lymph node detection in patients with vulvar carcinoma. In 15 patients with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma, the inguinal sentinel lymph nodes was detected using both peritumoral injection of technetium-99m sulfur colloid and isosuflan blue before the surgical time. The detection of the inguinal sentinel lymph node was never completed by an inguinal lymphadenectomy. In case of metastatic lymph node, patients were treated by complementary inguinal irradiation. A total of 19 inguinal node dissection were performed. The sentinel lymph node was identified in 18/19 (94.7%) groin dissections. A total of 38 sentinel lymph nodes were removed. 4 patients were found to have metastatic lymph node (26.7%) with a total of 6 metastatic lymph nodes. The postoperative morbidity was minimal, with only one patient presenting a permanent edema of the extremity (6.7%) after complementary inguinal irradiation. We confirm the results of previous studies that sentinel node dissection appears to be technically feasible in patients with vulvar carcinoma. This may reduce the morbidity of usual inguinal lymphadenectomy without under-evaluate the nodal status. This procedure could be implemented in future therapy concepts.