Dynamic sentinel node biopsy for inguinal lymph node staging in patients with penile cancer: a systematic review and cumulative analysis of the literature.

BACKGROUND

Dynamic sentinel node biopsy (DSNB) is used to evaluate the nodal status of patients with clinically node-negative penile carcinoma. Its use is not widespread, and the majority of patients with clinically node-negative disease undergo an elective inguinal lymph node dissection (ILND). However, a prophylactic bilateral ILND is a procedure with approximately 50% of morbidity. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the accuracy of DSNB in penile cancer.

METHODS

This is a systematic review and cumulative analysis of studies published between 1966 and 2010. The Medline, Embase, Cancerlit, and American Society of Clinical Oncology abstract databases were searched for published studies on penile cancer and DSNB. The outcomes assessed were: sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, and summary receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves.

RESULTS

Ten articles covering 519 participants were included in the cumulative analysis. The pooled sensitivities and specificities for sentinel node biopsy for detection of metastasis were 77.1 and 100% versus ILND and 87.9 and 100% versus wait and see program. The false-negative rate founded was 3.1% in the ILND group and 3.5% in the wait and see group.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of dynamic sentinel lymph node biopsy to detect lymph node metastasis in specialized centers appears to be justified. Addiction of other techniques to DSNB to reduce false-negative results is awaited and must be confirmed by future studies.