Steerable DROP-IN radioguidance during minimal-invasive non-robotic cervical and endometrial sentinel lymph node surgery.

Purpose: The recently introduced tethered DROP-IN gamma probe has revolutionized the way robotic radioguided surgery is performed, fully exploiting the nature of steerable robotic instruments. Given this success, the current first-in-human study investigates if the DROP-IN can also provide benefit in combination with steerable non-robotic instruments during conventional laparoscopic surgery, showing equivalence or even benefit over a traditional rigid gamma probe.

Methods: The evaluation was performed in ten patients during laparoscopic cervical (n = 4) and endometrial (n = 6) cancer sentinel lymph node (SLN) procedures.