title: Importance of the number of retreived lymph nodes during cystectomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effect of the number of dissected lymph nodes (LNs) during radical cystectomy on survival outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical files of 211 patients who underwent cystectomy between 1996 and 2009 were retrospectively evaluated. Seventy-four patients were included in the study and divided into two groups regarding the median number of retrieved LNs (median number = 13); 36 patients in the 1st and 38 in the 2nd group. Radical cystectomy, urinary diversion, and pelvic LN dissection were done in all the patients. When necessary, adjuvant chemotherapy was applied. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to compare survival outcomes of the groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 74 patients, 67 (90.5%) were men and 7 (9.5%) were women, with the mean age of 61.7 years (range, 39 to 83 years). Age distribution, pathologic stages, carcinoma in situ occurrence, adjuvant chemotherapy rates, LN involvement, and median follow-up period were similar in both groups. Mean dissected LNs number in the 1st and 2nd groups was 6.17 (range, 1 to 12) and 21.6 (range, 13 to 41), respectively. Five-year estimated overall survival rates were 24.5% and 60.5% (P = .002) while five-year estimated disease-specific survival rates were 43.7% and 74.4% (P = .049), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although exact guidelines are not described, it seems that dissection of high number of LNs during radical cystectomy is crucial.
authors: Department of 2nd Urology, Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors: Tahir
authors: T
authors: Karadeniz
authors: Caner
authors: C
authors: Baran
authors: Medih
authors: M
authors: Topsakal
authors: Ender
authors: E
authors: Kavukcu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015653:Cystectomy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*