Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping of Oral Cancer Using Near-Infrared Fluorescence Imaging
Status:
Suspended
Trial end date:
2021-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Cervical lymph node involvement, in head and cancer neck patients, is one of the most
important prognostic factors. Currently patients undergo neck dissection removing some or all
nodes and neck involvement is retrospectively determined. Sentinel lymph node (SLN)
identification and biopsy has become clinical practise in other areas including breast, skin,
and gastric cancer. The gold standard for detecting metastatic lymph nodes is pathological
analysis, but the lack of an accurate or clinically accepted way to identify sentinel lymph
nodes in the cervical region has motivated the usage of indocyanine green (ICG) and
near-infrared fluorescence (NIR) imaging (Pinpoint, Novadaq, Waterloo). A prospective
clinical trial using a commercially available NIR system and ICG injection around the tumour
site will evaluate the ability to detect and biopsy sentinel lymph nodes in head and neck
cancer patients.