Novel Humanized Ferritin-Based NIR Fluorescent Probe for Identifying Sentinel Lymph Node Metastasis in Early Gastric Cancer

With the widespread adoption of early cancer screening, the proportion of early gastric cancer (EGC) in China has been gradually increasing. The primary treatments for EGC are endoscopic and surgical interventions. For EGC invading the submucosal layer, the lymph node metastasis rate is approximately 20%. In clinical practice, subtotal gastrectomy combined with D2 lymphadenectomy is commonly performed to achieve radical tumor resection, resulting in up to 80% of patients undergoing unnecessary lymph node dissection. Sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs), which are the first potential sites along the lymphatic drainage pathway from the primary tumor to receive cancer cells, can effectively represent the status of lymphatic metastasis. As gastric cancer surgery evolves toward minimally invasive, precise, and individualized approaches, there is an urgent clinical need for a safe and effective SLN map