The use of fluorescein in radical inguinal lymphadenectomy

Necrosis with slough of skin flaps is a common and distressing complication after radical inguinal node dissection. Conventional methods to predict viability of dermal flaps are notoriously unreliable. Intravenous fluorescein has been shown to be a reliable indicator of the adequacy of blood supply to dermal flaps in experimental models and in radical mastectomies. Fluorescein has been used in 6 separate node dissections for carcinoma of the penis. In all cases fluorescein reliably delineated viable skin flaps and its use can help decrease the morbidity rate in inguinal node dissection.