Utility of indocyanine green injection in patients with cervical cancer besides the identification of sentinel lymph node (Review)

Due to the wide introduction of screening tests, patients with neoplastic diseases of the uterine cervix trend to be diagnosed in early stages of the disease, and less invasive surgical procedures are needed in certain cases. In this respect, the technique of sentinel lymph node dissection has been widely implemented as part of the therapeutic strategy, indocyanine green (ICG) being one of the most reliable markers for sentinel lymph node detection. However, it seems that this agent is extremely useful in order to achieve better short-term and long-term results after cervical cancer surgery, due to its capacity to determine the uterine vascular perfusion in cases in which conservative treatment, such as trachelectomy, is performed, as well as to prevent and treat lower limb lymphedema. A literature review was conducted of the studies which focused on the role of ICG utility in cervical cancer patients besides sentinel lymph node detection, special focus was given to vascularization preservation and lower limb lymphedema prevention and treatment.