OBJECTIVE
To determine the number of lymph nodes that need to be examined to accurately stage the pN variable in patients undergoing radical nephrectomy (RN) for renal cell carcinoma (RCC).
PATIENTS AND METHODS
We reviewed the operative and pathology reports of 725 patients with RCC submitted for RN. All tumours were classified using the fifth edition of the Tumour‐Nodes‐Metastasis classification. For each patient the number of lymph nodes removed was recorded. The patients were divided into five different groups according to the number of nodes removed, i.e. group 1, 1–4; group 2, 5–8; group 3, 9–12; group 4, 13–16; and group 5, ≥ 17. We evaluated the factors that affected the number of lymph nodes removed with nodal dissection and the variables that influenced the incidence of nodal involvement.
RESULTS
Lymphadenectomy was performed in 608 patients (83.8%); in these patients the rate of lymph node metastases was 13.6%. The median (range) number of nodes removed was 9 (1–43); there was a statistically significant correlation between the number of nodes removed and the percentage of nodal involvement (r = 0.6; P < 0.01). The rate of pN+ was significantly higher in the patients with ≥ 13 than in those with < 13 nodes examined (20.8% vs 10.2%; P < 0.001). For organ‐confined and locally advanced tumours there was a statistically significant difference in the pN+ rate between patients with < 13 or ≥ 13 nodes examined (3.4% vs 10.5%, and 19.7% vs. 32.2%, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS
The proportion of tumours classified as pN+ increased with the number of lymph nodes examined. In RCC,> 12 lymph nodes need to be assessed for optimal staging.
Abbreviations & Acronyms C & RT = classification and regression trees CSS = cancer-specific survival DFS = disease-free survival e-PLND = extended pelvic lymph node dissection IQR = interquartile range l-PLND = limited pelvic lymph node dissection LN-c = lymph node count LVI = lymphovascular invasion NS = not significant PLND = pelvic lymph node dissection RC = radical cystectomy SEER = Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results s-PLND = standard pelvic lymph node dissection TNM = tumor-node-metastasis UC = urothelial carcinoma Objectives: To evaluate the impact of an extended versus a standard pelvic lymph node dissection on disease-free survival and cancer-specific survival of patients with non-metastatic muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder treated with radical cystectomy. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of 933 patients collected in two prospectively-maintained institutional databases between 2002 and 2010. Patients who met inclusion criteria (high-grade urothelial carcinoma, have not undergone neoadjuvant treatments, have not undergone salvage cystectomy) were included for analysis. The upper boundary was the iliac bifurcation for standard lymph-node dissection and the aortic bifurcation for the extended lymph node dissection, respectively. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses were carried out to identify independent predictors of disease-free survival and cancer-specific survival and, subsequently, the effect of extended lymph node dissection was determined with a multivariable Cox analysis after stratifying for significant covariates. Results: At multivariable analysis, once adjusted for the effect of the other covariates, extended lymph node dissection was an independent predictor of disease-free survival (hazard ratio 1.95, P < 0.001) and cancer-specific survival (hazard ratio 1.80, P < 0.001). The benefit of an extended pelvic lymph node dissection on disease-free survival and cancer-specific survival was significant across all pT stages (all P < 0.05) except for pT <2 and across all pN stages (pN = 0, P = 0.011 and P = 0.034 for disease-free survival and cancer-specific survival, respectively; pN1 and pN2, all P < 0.001).
Conclusions:The staging accuracy and the survival benefit provided by extended pelvic lymph node dissection suggests the adoption of this template as the standard template for patients with muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder undergoing radical cystectomy.
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