title: Retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy for testis tumor with nerve sparing for ejaculation.
abstract: The principal morbidity of retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy is the potential loss of ejaculation and, therefore, fertility owing to damage of the retroperitoneal sympathetic nerves that form the superior hypogastric plexus. We describe the results of our retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy when individual nerves from the sympathetic ganglia are identified and preserved while still performing a thorough bilateral retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy. The nerve-sparing procedure was technically feasible in 20 of 30 consecutive patients and it was only impractical with extensive gross disease. Of the 20 patients 18 (90 per cent) ejaculate, including 8 with bulky (5 cm. or more) residual retroperitoneal disease who underwent a successful nerve-sparing operation. All 12 patients (100 per cent) with nonbulky disease ejaculate. With short followup, no retroperitoneal recurrences have been detected. This technique is an alternative to limited dissection designed to spare nerves using boundaries based on the patterns of metastatic involvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery (Urology), Wellesley Hospital, Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jewett
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Sturgeon
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Alison
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Gospodarowicz
mesh_terms: D004542:Ejaculation; D006801:Humans; D007001:Hypogastric Plexus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000601:surgery*; D012186:Retroperitoneal Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space / Q000294:innervation; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*