Objectives: To evaluate a single-centre experience with sentinel lymph-node biopsy (SLNB) as a staging procedure in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the penis.
Patients and methods: The study included 60 patients with SCC of the penis, who had SLNB in all groins where no palpable nodes were found, and in groins with palpable nodes with negative fine-needle aspiration cytology. Lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative lymph node detection was done using (99m)Tc-nanocolloid and no use of blue dye.
Results: In all, there were 97 SLNB procedures in 52 patients; 20 (20.6%) of the SLNB were positive for nodal metastases. Two negative SLNB proved to be false-negative during the observation period. The false negative-rate was 9%, the sensitivity 91% and the negative predictive value 97.5%. Minor early complications occurred after 4% of the SLNB procedures. No major or late complications were recorded.
Conclusions: SLNB is minimally invasive and can be used as a safe and reliable staging procedure in patients with SCC of the penis. Thus standard lymph-node dissection can be avoided in most patients.