Clin Oncol | Volume 2, Issue 1 | Review Article | Open Access

Sentinel Node Biopsy for Anal Carcinoma

Massimiliano Mistrangelo^1*, Pierfrancesco Franco², Valentina Testa², Adriana Lesca¹, Marilena Bellò² and Mario Morino¹

¹Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Turin, Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital, Italy
²Department of Oncology and Radiation Oncology, University of Turin, Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital, Italy ³Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Turin, Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital, Italy

^*Correspondance to: Massimiliano Mistrangelo 

Abstract

Background: Anal squamous cell carcinoma is a rare neoplasm. Inguinal lymph nodes metastases are an independent prognostic factor in predicting tumor recurrence and overall survival in patients affected by anal canal cancer. Nowadays there is not an adequate tool to diagnose inguinal lymph node metastases. In recent years the role of sentinel node biopsy in this topic was investigated.
Methods: A review of the Literature was performed to this purpose.
Results: All reports agree that SLNB biopsy is a feasible and effective method for defining the inguinal node status in these patients. It may help to detect occult inguinal metastatic disease, in order to select patients to submit to inguinal radiotherapy. This approach permits a selection of patients who could take advantage of inguinal sparing irradiation, thus avoiding toxic side effects, which were reported to be as high as 33%, with 15% of patients requiring major medical or surgical intervention. Conclusions: Nowadays sentinel lymph node biopsy seems to be the best toll for staging inguinal status in patients affected by anal cancer. It permits a new individualized and tailored approach to anal cancer based on the results of these exams in order to select patients to be submitted to inguinal radiotherapy, avoiding morbidity associated to this treatment in patients negative for inguinal MTS.

Keywords:

Anal cancer; Squamous cancer; Staging; PET-CT scan; Sentinel lymph node; Inguinal lymph node; FNA

Citation:

Mistrangelo M, Franco P, Testa V, Lesca A, Bellò M, Morino M. Sentinel Node Biopsy for Anal Carcinoma. Clin Oncol. 2017; 2: 1311.