Lymph node metastasis is one of the most important prognostic factors for uterine cervical cancer, although lymph node status is not part of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging. Considering the increasing attention about the topic, we performed a comprehensive review of the literature, to assess the accuracy of real-time fluorescence sentinel lymph node (SLN) for the detection of nodal metastases in patients with early stage cervical cancer (ESCC). In this work, we discuss the different techniques for SLN mapping and the accuracy of each one of them and, basing on these data, summarize the most important recommendations. In particular, we suggest to perform indocyanine green-SLN technique for ESCC, since it showed the highest accuracy for the detection of nodal metastases.
Keywords: Accuracy; Blue dye; Early stage cervical cancer; Indocyanine green; Lymphoscintigraphy; Sentinel lymph node.