Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
Bell D, Iqbal S, Sentinel lymph node. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 22 Feb 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-64989
The sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) are defined as those lymph nodes that directly drain a malignancy, or alternatively can be considered as the first node(s) that a tumor metastasizes to.
History and etymology
"Sentinel node" as the initial draining node of a malignancy was first used in a paper written in 1960 about parotid malignancies by American general surgeon Ernest A Gould (1913-1981 5) et al 4. No further development of this concept happened until the seminal study of penile carcinoma published in 1977 by American general surgeon Ramón M Cabañas (fl. 2020) 1,3.
Sentinel refers to somebody on guard, and therefore has been adopted for the lymph node that stands guard over a cancer. It is from the Italian sentinella, meaning 'to sense or watch' 6.
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3. Cabanas RM. An approach for the treatment of penile carcinoma. (1977) Cancer. 39 (2): 456-66. Pubmed
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4. GOULD EA, WINSHIP T, PHILBIN PH, KERR HH. Observations on a "sentinel node" in cancer of the parotid. (1960) Cancer. 13: 77-8. Pubmed
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5. Dr. Ernest Gould, of Hospital Center. washingtonpost.com https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/07/15/dr-ernest-gould-of-hospital-center/5ac2353c-2e41-49f6-9af6-39f2467f8b22/?utm_term=.eb900514d0b0 [accessed December 18th 2018].
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7. Nahum U, Nahum SC, Nahum vNuP, Nahum PS, Nahum HS, Nahum CP, Nahum. Sentinel lymph node fingerprinting. (2019) Physics in medicine and biology. doi:10.1088/1361-6560/ab177d - Pubmed
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