Sentinel lymph node mapping in endometrial cancer - robotic vs. laparoscopic detection system.

Objective: Comparison of systems to detect sentinel lymph node in endometrial carcinoma using indocyanine green. Robotic Firefly Da Vinci fluorescence imaging system (Intuitive Surgical Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA) vs. laparoscopic Novadaq Pinpoint near-infrared imaging system (Novadaq, Ontario, Canada).

Material and method: Fifteen patients with stage I endometrial cancer underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy after intracervical application of indocyanine green. For all of them, the detection was performed sequentially using both evaluated devices. The detection rate, identification match and extent of imaging of the lymphatic system were evaluated.

Results: The detection rate of both systems verified on a set of patients was identical, the detected sentinel nodes were identical, and the lymphatic system was shown to the same extent. The quality of the display and overall user-friendliness is different due to the applied technologies.

Conclusion: Both systems used in minimally invasive surgery provide excelent perioperative imaging of the lymphatic system.