Determining the Precise Extent of Sentinel Basins During Laparoscopic Gastrectomy for Early Gastric Cancer

Purpose: By analyzing sentinel basin dissection (SBD) data from the SEntinel Node ORIented Tailored Approach (SENORITA) trial, we sought to determine the precise extent of the sentinel basin (SB) without a tracer. Materials and Methods This study investigated SB length in patients (n = 25) who underwent laparoscopic SBD for early gastric cancer (EGC) in the SENORITA trial. SB length along the greater curvature (GC) and lesser curvature (LC) was measured intraoperatively before performing SBD. Results In all 25 cases, along the LC of the stomach the lengths of the SB were 3.4 ± 0.9 cm (mean ± SD) proximally and 3.2 ± 0.8 cm distally; along the GC side, the lengths of SB were 7.0 ± 1.9 cm proximally and 6.5 ± 1.7 distally from the tumors. SB length at the GC or LC side was not significantly different between subgroups categorized by tumor depth, size, and longitudinal location. When tumors were located at the anterior wall of the stomach, the length of proximal SB (10.0 ± 1.4 cm) at the GC side was longest. In cases with several sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs), the lengths of SB at the GC side were significantly longer than those with fewer SLNs. However, the lengths of the SB were similar on the LC side regardless of the number of SLNs. Conclusions The SB length presented in this study could be a draft for simplifying procedures in laparoscopic sentinel node navigation surgery for stomach preservation in EGC.