HISTOPATHOLOGIC VALIDATION OF THE SENTINEL NODE CONCEPT IN ORAL AND OROPHARYNGEAL SQUAMOUS

Abstract: Background. In patients with head and neck squa-mous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the presence of lymph node metastases is the most important prognosticator. Sentinel node (SN) biopsy has been shown to be an accurate staging technique for patients with breast cancer and melanoma and might also be suited for patients with HNSCC. This study was undertaken to determine whether the SN concept holds true for HNSCC and could be exploited for SN biopsy. Methods. In 22 patients with T2 to T4 N0 oral or oropha-ryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) who were scheduled to undergo combined primary tumor excision and elective unilat-eral (n = 17) or bilateral (n = 5) neck dissection, SN identification was performed the day before surgery by use of lymphoscintig-raphy after peritumoral injections of 99mTc-labeled colloidal al-bumin. After the neck dissection specimens were removed, al