ICG-Guided Sentinel Lymph Node Sampling during Robotic Retroauricular Neck Dissection in cN0 Oral Cancer

Abstract

In this study, we sought to evaluate the clinical feasibility of indocyanine green (ICG)–guided sentinel lymph node (SLN) sampling during robotic retroauricular neck dissection (RAND) in patients with cN0 oral cancer. Nine adult patients diagnosed with T1 to T2 oral squamous cell carcinoma were consecutively recruited. All of them underwent transoral partial glossectomy and robotic RAND (levels I-III) simultaneously. Twelve hours prior to surgery, ICG was injected into the 4 quadrants around primary tongue tumors. During robotic RAND, intraoperative and ex vivo ICG-stained LNs were identified using the Firefly system and examined for the presence of fluorescence. ICG-stained LNs were identified in all patients. Thirty-one ICG-stained LNs were detected in 313 retrieved LNs (9.9%). Occult metastases were detected among the ICG-stained LNs in 2 patients (22.2%). There was no metastasis identified in the ICG-unstained LNs. Upstaging rates, sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value of ICG-guided SLN sampling were 22.2%, 100%, 91.5%, and 100%, respectively.