Prognostic Impact of Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection During Radical Prostatectomy on Patients With High-risk Prostate Cancer Treated With Neoadjuvant Chemohormonal Therapy
Abstract BackgroundWe aimed to determine the prognostic and staging benefit of limited pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) during radical prostatectomy (RP) in high-risk prostate cancer (PC) patients treated with neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed 516 patients with high-risk localized PC (<cT4N0M0) who received neoadjuvant androgen-deprivation therapy plus estramustine phosphate followed by RP between January 2010 and March 2020. Since we stopped limited-PLND for such patients in October 2015, we compared the biochemical recurrence-free survival (BCR-FS) between the limited-PLND group (before October 2015, n = 283) and the non-PLND group (after November 2015, n = 233).ResultsThe rate of node metastases in the limited-PLND group were 0.8% (2/283). Operation time was significantly longer (176 vs. 162 min) and the rate of surgical complications were much higher (all grades; 19 vs. 6%, grade ≥ 3; 3 vs. 0%) in the limited-PLND group. The inverse probability of treatment weighting-Cox analysis revealed limited PLND had no significant impact on BCR-FS (hazard ratio, 1.31; P = 0.421).ConclusionsLimited PLND during RP after neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy showed a relatively low rate of positive nodes, higher rate of complications, and no significant impact on BCR-FS.
