Retroperitoneal Lymphadenectomy: Indications, Complications and Expectations

Abstract

The rapid development of multimodal therapy in the management of non-seminomatous testicular tumors demands a reappraisal of the role of lymphadenectomy in this disease. Radiotherapy has been used almost exclusively for the past 25 years in England and many European countries for treatment of all patients with testicular carcinoma, regardless of histologic type (1, 9, 10, 19, 26, 27); whereas, in the USA, lymphadenectomy either alone (29) or combined with irradiation (3, 7, 15, 24) has remained the popular choice. The purpose of this presentation is to report our experience gained from performing 152 retro-peritoneal lymphadenectomies over the past 18 years and is an attempt at the present time to answer CALDWELL’s (2) challenge: “Why retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy?”