The role of indocyanine green fluorescence in sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer

Introduction: The current practice in sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer is the radioisotope and blue dye dual labelling technique, however, other mapping methods are also available. Indocyanine green fluorescence is one of the best alternatives of the standard technique, with detection rates comparable to those of the radioisotope method. Method: Between 31. 03. 2020 and 15. 04. 2020, a total of 10 sentinel lymph node biopsies for breast cancer were performed using the indocyanine green fluorescence and blue dye dual technique. Results: 17 sentinel lymph nodes were detected and removed in total, from which 16 showed explicit fluorescence activity (detection rate: 0.94; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.73-0.99), whilst 9 where blue (detection rate: 0.53; 95% CI: 0.31-0.74). During histopathological examination, 2 sentinel lymph nodes proved to be metastatic, from which 1 was fluorescent and blue, the other was blue only. Conclusion: Regarding our early experience based on a small number of patients, indocyanine green fluorescence, used together with blue dye as part of a dual technique, is a usable method for sentinel lymph node mapping. Based on data from the literature, the detection rate and the false-negative rate of the indocyanine green fluorescence method shows no significant difference from the radioisotope mapping technique.