Current Status and Future Perspectives of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy by Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Method in Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Abstract

Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is now the standard of care for patients with clinically node-negative breast cancer and completion of axillary lymph node dissection can be spared in patients who had negative-SLNs. Accurate and safe assessment of axillary lymph node status is required because lymph node involvement is accepted as the most powerful prognostic indicator The combined method using blue dye and radioisotope (RI) have been used worldwide. The RI method yield the high detection rate but has some drawbacks including radiation exposure and requirement of RI facilities and nuclear medicine. The indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence method which was developed is accepted as an alternative SLN mapping to the RI method. Here we report the current status and perspectives on this image guided SLN biopsy using ICG.