Although sentinel lymph node mapping has been widely implemented in gynecological malignancies in order to minimize the number of unnecessary lymph node dissections and to diminish postoperative morbidity rate, little is known about ovarian cancer sentinel lymph node mapping. This article presents a literature review regarding the effectiveness, safety and benefits of this method.
Sentinel lymph node detection in early stage ovarian cancer seems to be a safe and effective method, able to minimize the rate of patients submitted to unnecessary lymph node dissection. The second goal of the procedure, to minimize the risk of missing involved lymph nodes, seems also to have been achieved, most studies reporting a very small number of cases diagnosed with positive non-sentinel lymph nodes.
Considering all these data we can note that this procedure is not yet included as part of the standard therapeutic protocol, so that further studies would be necessary to include it as a common therapeutic approach in the case of patients with early stage ovarian cancer