Title: The value of sentinel node HPV status for prediction of lymphnode metastasis and recurrence in cervical cancer patients
Abstract: Objective:The 'sentinel node' is defined as the first lymph node encountered by lymphatic vessels draining a tumor. We tried to examine whether pathologic status of sentinel nodes of cervical cancer patients represent metastatic status of pelvic and paraaortic lymph nodes and to investigate the correlation between sentinel node HPV status and lymph node metastasis and recurrence of cervical cancer patients. Methods:From August 2001 to December 2003, 57 patients affected by stage IB-IIA cervical cancer had sentinel node biopsies performed during radical hysterectomy and pelvic and paraaortic lymphadenectomy. We performed sentinel lymph node pathologic examination by frozen section and HPV typing by oligonucleotide microarray. After two years of follow up, we analyzed the prognosis of patients. Results:Sentinel nodes were identified in all of our patients. A total of 79 nodes were detected as sentinel nodes. Metastasis in the sentinel nodes were found in 10 patients by frozen section and 11 patients by permanent pathologic examination. The results of sentinel lymph node frozen biopsy were statistically significant for predicting the metastatic status of the pelvic lymph nodes (p