Sentinel node navigation surgery for gastric cancer: Overview and perspective

The sentinel node (SN) technique has been established for the treatment of some types of solid cancers to avoid unnecessary lymphadenectomy. If node disease were diagnosed before surgery, minimal surgery with omission of lymph node dissection would be an option for patients with early gastric cancer. Although SN biopsy has been well ascertained in the treatment of breast cancer and melanoma, SN navigation surgery (SNNS) in gastric cancer has not been yet universal due to the complicated lymphatic flow from the stomach. Satisfactory establishment of SNNS will result in the possible indication of minimally invasive surgery of gastric cancer. However, the results reported in the literature on SN biopsy in gastric cancer are widely divergent and many issues are still to be resolved, such as the collection method of SN, detection of micrometastasis in SN, and clinical benefit. The difference in the procedural technique and learning phase of surgeons is also varied the accuracy of SN mapping. In this review, we outline the current status of application for SNNS in gastric cancer.