Table 3.

Technical characteristics of SLN mapping of included studies

Study	Infrared system	Fluorescent tracer	Tracer composition	Concentration	Injected dose	Injection technique	Site of injection	Time of SLN mapping	Histopathological examination for SLNs
Andersen [22]	SPIES (Karl Storz, Holte, Denmark)	ICG; ICG Pulsion, Pulsion Medical Systems, Munich, Germany	ICG: HAS diluted in H2O and blue dye	ICG 25 mg H2O 9 ml HSA 1 ml	2 × 0.5 ml proximal an distal from the tumor	In vivo	Subserosal	Intraoperative directly and 20 min after injection	Five series of 50 um interval, 3 um thickness/each; 1st section H&E and 3rd section with IHC for cytokeratin A
Currie [21]	Laparoscopic NIR-imaging system (Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, Japan)	ICG; ICG Pulsion, Pulsion Medical Systems, Munich, Germany	na	5 mg/ml	4 × 1 ml circumferentially	In vivo	Submucosal	Intraoperative 7 (IQR 6–8) min after injection	Standard H&E-staining. If negative for metastases, serial sectioning in slices of 4 um at 250 um intervals, staining of each level with H&E and IHC for pan-cytokeratin antibody
Hirche [23]	IC-View (ICG Pulsion, Pulsion Medical Systems, Munich, Germany)	ICG stock solution	na	5 mg/ml	2.0 (range 1–4) ml around the tumor	In vivo	Subserosal	Intraoperative 3–10 min after injection and ex vivo	H&E staining at 250 um. If negative for metastases, re-examination by serial sectioning at 5 um and H&E staining and IHC for cytokeratin antibody for each section
Hutteman [26]	Mini-FLARE	IRDye800CW; Li-Cor, Licoln, NE	IRDye800CW: HSA diluted in PBS	3:1	1 ml circumferentially	Ex vivo	Submucosal	Ex vivo 5 min after injection and tracer massage	H&E staining at 4-um sections
Liberale [24]	Photodynamic Eye PDE (Hamamatsu, Japam)	ICG (Pulsion, Paris, France)	ICG diluted in H2O and blue dye	0.5 mg/ml	4 × 0.5 ml circumferentially	Ex vivo	Subserosal	Ex vivo directly after injection and during pathological examination	Standard H&E staining. If negative for metastases, serial sectioning using three slices at 150 um interval stained with H&E, if still negative IHC for anti-pan-cytokeratin
Schaafsma [25]	Mini-FLARE	IRDye800CW; Li-Cor, Lincoln, NE	IRDye800CW: HSA diluted in PBS and blue dye	1.5:1	1 ml circumferentially	Ex vivo	Submucosal	Ex vivo 5 min after injection and tracer massage	H&E staining at 4-um sections
Watanabe [27]	In vivo: D-Light P System (Karl Storz, Tuttlingen, Germany) Ex vivo: HyperEye Medical System, Mizuho corporation, Tokyo, Japan	Diagnogreen; Daiichi Pharmaceuticals, Tokyo, Japan	ICG diluted in H2O	2.5 mg/ml	2 × 1 ml proximal and distal from the tumor	In vivo	Subserosal	Intraoperative 30 min after injection and ex vivo	H&E staining
Weixler [20]	Mini-FLARE	IRDye800CW; Li-Cor, Lincoln, NE	IRDye800CW: HSA diluted in PBS and blue dye	3:1	0.4 ± 0.2 ml Number of injections depends on tumor size	Ex vivo	Subserosal	15 min after injection	Serial sectioning at 3 levels, H&E at the 1st section of each level. If negative for metastases then IHC for cytokeratin 19 for a second section

SLN sentinel lymph node, na not available, H&E hematoxylin and eosin, IHC immunohistochemistry