Clinical Impact of Lymphadenectomy after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: A Review of Available Data

Role of systematic lymphadenectomy at the time of interval debulking surgery for patients with advanced-stage epithelial ovarian carcinoma who achieved complete gross resection

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the role of systematic lymphadenectomy at the time of interval cytoreductive surgery for patients with advanced-stage epithelial ovarian carcinoma who achieved complete gross resection.

METHODS

The National Cancer DataBase was accessed, and patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2015 with advanced-stage ovarian carcinoma who underwent interval cytoreductive surgery and achieved complete gross resection were identified. Patients who did not undergo lymphadenectomy and those who underwent systematic lymphadenectomy (defined as at least 20 lymph nodes removed) were selected for further analysis. Median overall survival was compared with the log-rank test and controlled for a priori selected confounders.

RESULTS

A total of 1060 patients were identified. Systematic lymphadenectomy was performed for 125 (11.8%) patients with a median of 29 lymph nodes (range 20-72) removed. Rate of lymph node metastasis was 62.4%. Patients who underwent systematic lymphadenectomy had higher rate of unplanned readmission (8.9% vs 1.6%, p<0.001), and median hospital stay (6 vs 4 days, p<0.001). Median overall survival for patients who did and did not undergo systematic lymphadenectomy was 44.2 and 40.4 months, respectively, p=0.40. After controlling for confounders, performance of systematic lymphadenectomy was not associated with better survival (HR=0.98, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.19).

CONCLUSION

Systematic lymphadenectomy is rarely performed at the time of interval cytoreductive surgery and not associated with a survival benefit for patients who achieved complete gross resection.

Adequate Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection in Radical Cystectomy in the Era of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Radical cystectomy (RC) with pelvic lymphadenectomy (PLND) serves as the gold-standard treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Numerous studies have shown that the number of lymph nodes (LN) removed during RC could affect patient prognosis. However, these studies confirmed the association between PLND and survival outcomes prior to the widespread adoption of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the prognostic role of PLND in patients previously pretreated with NAC. A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed using PubMed, Web of Knowledge, and Scopus databases. The selected studies contained a total of 17,421 participants. The meta-analysis indicated a significant correlation between adequate PLND and overall survival in the non-NAC group. However, a survival benefit was not observed in patients undergoing RC with preoperative systemic therapy, regardless of the LN cut-off thresholds. The pooled HR for ≥10 and ≥15 LN were 0.87 (95% CI 0.75-1.01) and 0.87 (95% CI 0.76-1.00), respectively. The study results suggest that NAC mitigates the therapeutic significance of PLND, as patients pre-treated with NAC no longer gain oncological benefits from more extensive lymphadenectomy. This highlights the analogous roles of NAC and PLND in eradication of micrometastases and in prevention of distal recurrence post-RC.

Retrospective Analysis of Total Parietal Peritonectomy Without Systematic Lymphadenectomy for Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

BACKGROUND/AIM

Total parietal peritonectomy (TPP) is a surgical procedure used for complete resection of microscopic peritoneal dissemination. This study analyzed the perioperative complications that developed when omitting systematic lymphadenectomy from TPP.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed perioperative complications in epithelial ovarian cancer patients with stage IIIB-IVB who underwent TPP during primary and interval cytoreductive surgeries between April 2018 and October 2021.

RESULTS

Thirty-three patients were enrolled in the study. The median patient age was 62 years. Of 31 patients (94%) with stage IIIC/IV disease, 24 (73%) had high-grade serous carcinoma. The median operative time and blood loss were 447 min and 2,831 ml, respectively. Complete tumor resection was performed in 30 patients (91%). Only five patients underwent partial lymphadenectomy for clinical metastatic lymph nodes. Further, grade 3 complications were observed in seven (21%) patients, and there were no fatal events in this study. Three patients (9%) had ureteric injuries, which was the most frequent complication in this study. Only one patient developed an intra-abdominal infection due to ascites. In this case, partial para-aortic and pelvic lymphadenectomies were performed.

CONCLUSION

TPP without systematic lymphadenectomy reduces the frequency of perioperative complications associated with ascites.

Therapeutic Role of Retroperitoneal Lymphadenectomy in 170 Patients With Ovarian Clear Cell Cancer

INTRODUCTION

We evaluated the therapeutic role of retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy in patients with ovarian clear cell cancer (OCCC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed 170 OCCC patients diagnosed at two hospitals in China between April 2010 and August 2020. Clinical data were abstracted, and patients were followed until February 2021. Patients were divided into retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy and no lymphadenectomy groups. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) between the two groups. Statistical differences were determined by the log-rank test. The COX proportional hazards regression model was applied to identify predictors of tumor recurrence.

RESULTS

The median age was 52 years; 90 (52.9%) and 80 (47.1%) patients were diagnosed as early and advanced stage, respectively. Clinically positive and negative nodes was found in 40 (23.5%) and 119 (70.0%) patients, respectively. Of all the 170 patients, 124 (72.9%) patients underwent retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy, while 46 (27.1%) did not. The estimated 2-year PFS and 5-year OS rates were 71.4% and 65.9% in the lymphadenectomy group, and 72.0% and 73.7% in no lymphadenectomy group (p = 0.566 and 0.669, respectively). There was also no difference in survival between the two groups when subgroup analysis was performed stratified by early and advanced stage, or in patients with clinically negative nodes. Multivariate analysis showed that retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy were not an independent predictor of tumor recurrence.

CONCLUSION

Retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy provided no survival benefit in patients diagnosed with OCCC. A prospective clinical trial is needed to confirm the present results.

The Influence of Lymph Node Count on Oncological Outcome of Radical Cystectomy in Chemotherapy Pre-Treated and Chemotherapy-Naïve Patients with Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

Radical cystectomy (RC) with pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) remains the mainstay of treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). The extent of PLND and number of removed lymph nodes (LNs) have been associated with improved staging and survival outcomes in several series of RC patients. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has become standard of care for cisplatin-eligible patients qualified to RC, yet few studies on PLND stratified cases according to the receipt of NAC. We aimed to address this issue and reevaluate the prognostic value of PLND nodal yields in series of patients who underwent RC on the verge of the NAC era. This single-center, retrospective, clinical follow-up study enrolled 439 consecutive patients, out of whom 83 received NAC. We analyzed survival outcome of RC according to the number of removed nodes between NAC and non-NAC subgroups. We found PLND thresholds of 10 and 15 LNs prognostically meaningful in our study cohort, and this association was particularly pronounced in the non-NAC subgroup. Higher numbers of LNs provided a 25% reduction in risk of all-cause mortality and correspondingly correlated with up to a 14% increase in 3-year overall survival. The receipt of NAC diminished the benefit of adequate PLND, as the number of retrieved LNs was not associated with survival in the NAC-RC cohort. Given the limitations of our study, additional research is needed to verify these findings.