To Evaluate the Efficacy of Methylene Blue in Identification of Neck Sentinel Lymph Nodes in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Abstract

Background: Sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node to drain a metastatic tumor cell or cluster of cells that drains via the lymphatic route. Mapping from the tumor site to the regional lymphatic drainage area can be used to identify the primary draining lymph node. The status of the sentinel node decides the need for neck dissection. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Methylene blue in identification of Neck Sentinel Lymph Nodes (SLN) in oral squamous cell carcinoma. A total of 10 patients diagnosed histopathologically with oral squamous cell carcinoma were included in the study. Efficacy of methylene blue intraoperatively as an injectable medium for sentinel lymph node biopsy is established.

Results: SLN were identified in all the 10 cases, with an average of 1.8 SLN per patient and standard deviation of 1.13.

Conclusion: We conclude that, methylene blue is an effective, hypoallergenic, low cost and easily available dye that has shown promising results in identification of sentinel lymph nodes in early oral cancer, signifying the important role to be played by SLNB procedures in deciding the type of neck dissection with least morbidity and maximum outcome.