title: Population-based study of perioperative mortality after retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy for nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy (RPLND) perioperative mortality (PM) rates reported from a center of excellence (Indiana University: 0% for primary and 0.8% for postchemotherapy RPLND) are applicable to institutions at large.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used the data from 882 assessable patients with nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumor treated with RPLND from 1988 to 1997 accessed from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. These data did not include data from Indiana University. The observed PM rates were stratified according to age and SEER stage.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age at RPLND was 29 years. Of the 882 cases, 435 (49.3%) were performed for localized (Stage I), 380 (43.1%) for regional (Stage II), and 67 (7.6%) for metastatic (Stage III) SEER stage. Of the 882 patients, 7 patients died during the initial 90 days after RPLND, for a 0.8% PM rate. PM increased with increasing age: < or =29 years, 0.0%; 30-39 years, 1.3%; and > or =40 years, 2.7% (chi(2) trend test, P = .002). PM also increased with increasing stage: 0.0% for localized, 0.8% for regional, and 6.0% for metastatic disease (chi(2) trend test, P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RPLND is associated with virtually no or low PM in patients with localized and regional disease. The PM rates for these 2 groups replicated those of Indiana University. In contrast, the PM rate of 6% for patients with distant metastases implies that RPLND for these higher risk patients should ideally be performed at centers of excellence, with the intent of reducing the PM rate.
authors.affiliation: University of Montreal Health Center, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Capitanio
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jeldres
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Perrotte
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Isbarn
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crépel
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cloutier
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baillargeon-Gagne
authors.forename: Shahrokh F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Shariat
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Duclos
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arjane
authors.forename: Hugues
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Widmer
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saad
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Montorsi
authors.forename: Pierre I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Karakiewicz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018237:Germinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000401:mortality*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*