Sentinel node navigation for gastrointestinal cancers

Sentinel node biopsy has been clinically validated and applied for the surgical treatment for malignant melanoma and breast cancer. Although the feasibility of this technique in the other solid tumors including gastrointestinal (GI) cancer is still controversial, there are several reports to demonstrate diagnostic significance of SN mapping for early stage GI cancer. We have established radio-guided SN mapping for GI cancer and diagnostic accuracy according to this procedure in cT1N0 cases reached to 96%. The radioguided method allows us to detect the SN in endoscopic surgery quantitatively and reproducibly. Validation of the SN concept in GI cancer in a multi-centric clinical trial is essential for clinical application of this procedure, including the establishment of a novel, minimally invasive approach for early-stage GI cancer.