Abstract: Endometrial cancer is one of the three main gynecologic malignancies and its incidence is increasing year by year. Surgery-based comprehensive treatment is its main treatment principle, and surgical staging is an important basis for determining the extent of disease, evaluating prognosis, and selecting adjuvant therapy in patients with endometrial cancer. Commonly used lymph node staging strategies include systemic lymphadenectomy (LAD) and selective lymphadenectomy (SLAD) according to the "Mayo criteria". However, LAD has higher surgical risks accompanying many postoperative complications and the survival benefit remains controversial. In recent years, sentinel lymph node mapping (SLNM) has gradually become an alternative to the staging of endometrial cancer. By removing a few highly relevant lymph nodes, it can provide sufficient information to guide surgical pathological staging and adjuvant treatment, while minimizing surgery injury without affecting the patients′ prognosis. This review aims to systematically analyze the progress and related controversies of SLNM in early-stage endometrial cancer, providing evidence for another treatment strategy in surgical staging and lymph node evaluation in endometrial cancer patients.

Key words: Sentinel lymph node, Drawings;, Biopsy;, Endometrial neoplasms;, Lymphnode excision;, Pathologic ultra-staging