Indocyanine green fluorescence imaging: an effective method to find inguinal sentinel lymph node in a case of vulvar carcinoma

J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc. 2023 Dec 6;24(4):291-292. doi: 10.4274/jtgga.galenos.2023.2023-4-11.

Abstract

The aim was to demonstrate that the technique of near infrared range/indocyanine green (NIR/ICG) could aid the detection of inguinal sentinel lymph nodes in patients with vulvar cancer, in addition to technetium-99m (Tc-99m) scanning. We present a case report of sentinel lymph node detection in a patient with vulvar cancer with two methods: Tc-99m scan and NIR/ICG. The video showed that bilateral inguinal lymph nodes were detected both by Tc gamma probe and NIR/ICG. NIR/ICG may be a safe and effective alternative method for identifying sentinel lymph nodes in cases of early-stage vulvar cancer, although more evidence is required.

Keywords: Vulval carcinoma; indocyanine; radio tracer; sentinel lymph node.