Life prognosis of sentinel node navigation surgery for early-stage gastric cancer: Outcome of lymphatic basin dissection

Figure 2 Lymphatic basins, lymphatic compartments, and the strategy of sentinel node navigation surgery. A: The lymphatic basins were defined as the lymphatic system that was detected with dyed or fluorescent lymphatics. The lymphatic basins were integrated into the five lymphatic areas. Each of these was called the lymphatic compartment and was classified into five basins; B: Algorithm for sentinel node navigation surgery for early gastric cancer. First, sentinel node mapping was performed, followed by lymphatic basin dissection, ex vivo identification and biopsy of the sentinel nodes, and intraoperative rapid pathology. If the sentinel nodes were diagnosed as metastasis at rapid diagnosis, standard gastrectomy with nodal dissection up to D2 was performed; if the sentinel nodes were diagnosed as node negative, the extent of gastrectomy was reduced and function-preserving curative gastrectomy, such as segmental gastrectomy or local resection, was applied. l-GA: Left gastric artery basin; r-GA: Right gastric artery basin; l-GEA: Left gastroepiploic artery basin; r-GEA: Right gastroepiploic artery basin; p-GA: Posterior gastric artery basin.