Population-based study of perioperative mortality after retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy for nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors.
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.
Capitanio
Umberto
U
University of Montreal Health Center, Quebec, Canada.
Jeldres
Claudio
C
Perrotte
Paul
P
Isbarn
Hendrik
H
Crépel
Maxime
M
Cloutier
Vincent
V
Baillargeon-Gagne
Sara
S
Shariat
Shahrokh F
SF
Duclos
Alain
A
Arjane
Philippe
P
Widmer
Hugues
H
Saad
Fred
F
Montorsi
Francesco
F
Karakiewicz
Pierre I
PI
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*