New Alternative Techniques for Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

Background and Objectives: This review paper highlights the key alternatives to the blue dye/radioisotope method of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). It analyses the research available on these alternative methods and their outcomes compared to the traditional techniques. Materials and Methods: This review focused on fifteen articles, of which five used indocyanine green (ICG) as a tracer, four used magnetic tracers, one used one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) and Metasin (quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction), one used the photosensitiser talaporfin sodium, one used sulphur hexafluoride gas microbubbles, one used CT-guided lymphography and two focused on general SLNB technique reviews. Results: Of the 15 papers analysed, the sentinel node detection rates were 69-100% for indocyanine green, 91.67-100% for magnetic tracers, 81% for talaporfin sodium, 9.3-55.2% for sulphur hexafluoride gas microbubbles, 90.5% for CTLG and 82.7-100% for one-step nucleic acid amplification. Conclusions: Indocyanine green fluorescence (ICG) and magnetic tracers have been proven non-inferior to traditional blue dye and isotope regarding SLNB localisation. Further studies are needed to investigate the use of these techniques in conjunction with each other and the possible use of language learning models. Dedicated studies are required to assess cost efficacy and longer-term outcomes.