Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Prostate Cancer: An Overview of Diagnostic Performance, Oncological Outcomes, Safety, and Feasibility

Diagnostics (Basel). 2023 Jul 31;13(15):2543. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13152543.

Abstract

Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) for prostate cancer (PCa) represents an innovative technique aimed at improving nodal staging accuracy. The routinary adoption of this procedure in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) might be crucial to identify candidates who could effectively benefit from extensive pelvic lymph nodal dissection (ePLND). Despite some promising results, SNB for PCa is still considered experimental due to the lack of solid evidence and procedural standardization. In this regard, our narrative review aimed to analyze the most recent literature in this field, providing an overview of both the diagnostic accuracy measures and the oncological outcomes of SNB.

Keywords: extended pelvic lymph node dissection; fluorescence; indocyanine green; nodal staging; prostate cancer; radio-guided surgery; sentinel lymph node; sentinel lymph node biopsy.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.