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Diagnostic accuracy of sentinel lymph node biopsy using indocyanine green in lung cancer: a systematic review and
Warren Y L Sun1, Jerry T Dang2, Aryan Modasi3
1Division of General Surgery, Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, University of Alberta, 8440 - 112 ST NW, Edmonton, AB, 2G2 T6G 2B7, Canada. warrensun@ualberta.ca.
Objective:
The use of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has been gaining popularity with the emergence of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence imaging. We aimed to systematically review the literature and perform a meta-analysis on the diagnostic accuracy of SLNB using ICG for lung cancer.
Methods:
A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library using search terms "lung/pulmonary" AND "tumor/carcinoma/cancer/neoplasm/adenocarcinoma/malignancy/squamous/carcinoid" AND "indocyanine green" was completed in June 2018. Articles were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: (1) diagnostic accuracy study design; (2) ICG injected at the tumor site with near-infrared fluorescence imaging identification of sentinel lymph nodes; (3) lymphadenectomy or sampling was performed as the gold standard.
Results:
Eight primary studies were included with a total of 366 patients. 43.0% of patients were females and the mean tumor size was 2.3 cm. Sentinel lymph nodes were identified with ICG in 251 patients, yielding a pooled identification rate of 0.83 (0.67-0.94). A meta-analysis of seven studies computed a diagnostic odds ratio, sensitivity, and specificity of 177.6 (45.6-691.1), 0.85 (0.71-0.94), and 1.00 (0.98-1.00), respectively. The summary receiver operator characteristic demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.963 (SE = 0.038) and a Q* of 0.91 (SE = 0.057).
Conclusion:
Our review found suboptimal results for the diagnostic accuracy of SLNB using ICG and must be improved before routine clinical use. Further research is required to develop a robust protocol for the use SLNB with ICG for lung cancer.

