In addition to avoiding the risk of lymphoedema, the fact that the procedure is carried out robotically, as opposed to with keyhole or open surgery, has many benefits. In 95 per cent of the 53 women who were part of the study, we were able to successfully identify the sentinel lymph nodes. The results were overwhelmingly positive. We could then remove these and send them for testing. Using a black-and-white ‘filter’ on the viewfinder of the da Vinci Xi surgical robot, we could find the first sentinel lymph nodes draining fluid from the cancer, which ‘flare up’ green in response to the dye. My colleague Mr Thomas Ind and I injected a fluorescent green dye into the cervix, which spread through to the nodes. What did the FRIENDS feasibility study involve? However, most patients have negative nodes, and this total removal might expose them to the risk of lymphoedema, a major condition that can have a huge impact on a patient’s life. In early cervical and endometrial cancer, a standard course of action is a radical lymphadenectomy – the removal of all lymph nodes to assess the spread of disease in a biopsy. Cancer often spreads through the lymphatic system, and sentinel nodes are the first such areas to which cancer is likely to spread. These nodes, or glands, act by filtering abnormal cells from lymphatic fluid – a colourless fluid that forms in the body’s tissues.

Lymph nodes are an important part of the body’s immune system.

Sentinel lymph node meaning