Surgical Pathology Findings in Patients Who Have Undergone Radical Cystectomy/Cystoprostatectomy With Extended Versus Standard Lymph Node Dissection for Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder: A Contemporary Analysis

Radical cystectomy/cystoprostatectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection (with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy) is the gold standard in the management of patients with urothelial carcinoma (UCa) with muscularis propria (detrusor muscle) invasion. However, it remains controversial how extensive the lymph node dissection should be. In this article, we analyzed the clinicopathologic findings in patients who had radical cystectomy/cystoprostatectomy with extended versus standard lymph node dissection. A search was made through our Urologic Pathology files for radical cystectomy/cystoprostatectomy cases with extended and standard lymph node dissection for UCa. A total of 264 cases were included in the study (218 cystoprostatectomy and 46 cystectomy specimens). Mean patients age was 68 years (range = 32-92 years). Patients in all stage categories had more extended lymph node dissection performed compared with standard lymph node dissection: pT0 (20 vs 7), pTis (40 vs 12), pTa (8 vs 4), pT1 (27 vs 5), pT2 (39 vs 8), pT3 (51 vs 17), and pT4 (18 vs 8). In cases with neoadjuvant therapy there was a 19% lymph node positivity rate compared with a 24% positivity rate in those with no presurgical therapy. The only cases categorized as pT2 and below with positive lymph node metastasis were those that had extended lymph node dissection performed. Positive lymph nodes were more frequently detected in cases that had extended lymph node dissection. More than 35% of the positive lymph nodes were in nonregional distribution. Extended lymph node dissection should be considered in patients with UCa even in the low stage or post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy setting.