Sentinel Node in Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Trunk and Extremities: Experience in a Latin American Reference Center

This paper aims to assess the use of the sentinel node technique in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the trunk and extremities in a Latin American oncology reference center. The descriptive retrospective cohort study included 60 patients diagnosed with SCC of the trunk and extremities, submitted to surgical treatment of the primary tumor and sentinel node biopsy at the breast and soft tissue tumor services of the National Institute of Cancerology (Bogota, Colombia) over a period of 6 years. The sentinel node was identified in 96.6% (58/60) of the patients. The sentinel node pathology report was negative in 81.7% (49), positive in 15% (9). There were no complications due to the procedure in 85% of the patients. The mean recurrence-free survival time was 8.3 months (CI 95% 5.0 to 11.5 months) in patients with positive sentinel node and 58.6 months (CI 95% 47.8 to 69.3 months) in patients with negative results. Only 4 of 49 patients (8.1%) with negative sentinel node had regional relapse. The study evidenced that the sentinel node technique in patients with high-risk SCC of the trunk and extremities is an adequate staging tool for the lymph node chain, with a low rate of associated complications. This opens an interesting opportunity for prospective cohort studies that can demonstrate statistically significant differences.