@article {KELDER2855, author = {WENDY KELDER and ANDRIES BRAAT and ANKE VAN DEN BERG and INGE PLATTEEL and HARRY HOLLEMA and HENK. GROEN and JOHN PLUKKER}, title = {Value of RT-PCR Analysis of Sentinel Nodes in Determining the Pathological Nodal Status in Colon Cancer}, volume = {27}, number = {4C}, pages = {2855--2859}, year = {2007}, publisher = {International Institute of Anticancer Research}, abstract = {Background: Pathological examination of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) and non-SLNs in colon cancer is frequently not performed to the same extent. We examined whether non-SLNs were truly negative in tumors with tumor-negative SLNs using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Patients and Methods: RT-PCR with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was performed in hematoxylin-eosin (H\&E) and immunohistochemical (IHC) tumor-negative SLNs. In RT-PCR negative SLNs, we also performed RT-PCR on non-SLNs. Statistical analyses indicated the requirement for a minimum of 72 accurate comparisons of non-SLNs and SLNs, which could be fulfilled using tissues from 12 patients. Results: Negative and positive controls were performed. In nine of the 12 colon tumors, H\&E and IHC-negative SLNs were also negative with CEA-RT-PCR. A total of 102 lymph nodes, including 99 non-SLNs were retrieved in these nine specimens and none of the non-SLNs were CEA RT-PCR-positive. Conclusion: In this study, all CEA RT-PCR tumor-negative SLNs correctly reflect the tumor-negative status of the non-SLN{\textquoteright}s in primary colon tumors. The reliability of this method in colon cancer seems promising.}, issn = {0250-7005}, URL = {https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/27/4C/2855}, eprint = {https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/27/4C/2855.full.pdf}, journal = {Anticancer Research} }