REVIEW article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Obstetrics and Gynecological Surgery
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1663469
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Diagnosis and Treatment of Endometrial CancerView all 13 articles
Sentinel lymph node biopsy by transvaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (vNOTES) for early-stage endometrial cancer: A Systematic Literature Review
Provisionally accepted- 1Hopital de Sion Centre Hospitalier du Valais Romand, Sion, Switzerland
- 2CHVR, Sion, Switzerland
- 3Universite de Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland
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Introduction Sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping has become a standard approach for early-stage endometrial malignancies, offering reduced morbidity compared to complete lymphadenectomy. Recently, transvaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (vNOTES) has emerged as a novel minimally invasive technique for SLN biopsy, with potential benefits in early surgical outcomes. This systematic review evaluates current evidence on SLN biopsy performed via vNOTES. Material and methods A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for articles published between January 1, 2014 and January 31, 2025. Studies were included if they reported SLN biopsy by vNOTES in at least 10 patients with early-stage endometrial cancer and provided detailed data on SLN detection. Our primary outcomes focused on SLN detection and failure rates. Secondary objectives included the early operative outcomes. PROSPERO registration number was CRD42024612607. Results Seven studies comprising 231 patients were included. The overall bilateral SLN detection rate was 89.2%, with higher detection in the retroperitoneal subgroup (94.3%) compared to the transperitoneal subgroup (81.1%). The overall failure rate was 3.9%. Nodal metastases were reported in 5.6% (10/179) of patients. Intraoperative complications occurred in 5% of cases, with bladder injury being the most frequent. The conversion rate to laparoscopy was 6.5%, primarily due to unsuccessful SLN mapping. Postoperative complications occurred in 3% of patients and were mostly minor.
Keywords: sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy, Vaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (vNOTES), endometrial cancer, Sentinel Node Mapping, minimally invasive surgery, indocianine green (ICG), Carbon nanopartciles
Received: 10 Jul 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wernly, Nef and Huber. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Daniela Emanuela Huber, degh@hug.ch
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