Post-chemotherapy residual mass in non-seminomatous testicular cancer. The role of retroperitoneal lymph node dissection.

Purpose: To determine the role of RPLND for residual masses following chemotherapy in patients with non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT) stage T1N2 and T1N3 (IIB and IIC).

Materials And Methods: We have preformed retrospective analysis of 11 patients who underwent RPLND for residual masses following chemotherapy in an oncologic reference center between January 1997 and December 2002. All patients harbored either pure nonseminomatous or mixed tumors in the testis tissue and had undergone 4 cycles of primary chemotherapy with bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin. The residual masses were assessed by abdominal computed tomography preoperatively.

Results: There were perioperative complications in 3 cases owing to vascular iatrogenic lesion. One of who died in the early postoperative period due to extensive iliac thrombosis. The other 2 patients had an inferior vena cava injury owing to the difficulty in removing the attached lymph nodes. The injuries were repaired by continuous suture with Prolene 5-0. All patients had tumors in the final pathological report and were referred to other 2 cycles of chemotherapy with the same drugs. Seven patients (63.3%) had complete response and remained free of the disease in a mean follow up of 38.3 months (ranging from 12 to 72). The remaining 3 patients had disease progression, 2 of which died 6 and 12 months after surgery, respectively, and one patient missed the follow-up after salvage chemotherapy.

Conclusion: Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for residual masses after chemotherapy is a high-morbidity procedure, even by experienced surgeons, although it remains an efficient modality of treatment in advanced germ cell carcinoma. The high frequency of tumor found in the RPLFN following chemotherapy might have been caused by the small number of patients in this study.