Failure of sentinel node identification following neo-adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy for locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva.

ABSTRACT

A case of a 70-year-old patient with advanced local vulvar cancer is presented. Treatment with neo-adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy for two courses was administered and two weeks after completion of treatment the patient underwent wide local excision with bilateral inguino-femoral lymph node dissection through three separate incisions. Two methods for the evaluation of sentinel nodes--lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative gamma hand-held probe and blue dye injection, did not detect any sentinel node on either side. Groin-node dissection revealed 23 negative nodes. It is our hypothesis that the non-visualization of sentinel nodes in this patient was due to post-irradiation damage to the lymph channels.