Re: tumor infiltrated hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes are an independent prognostic factor for decreased survival after pulmonary metastasectomy in patients with renal cell carcinoma. H. Winter, G. Meimarakis, M. K. Angele, M. Hummel, M. Staehler, R. T. Hoffmann, R. A. Hatz and F. Lohe J Urol 2011; 184: 1888-1894.

摘要

To the Editor: Winter et al studied patients treated surgically for pulmonary metastases from renal cell carcinomas, and compared the 5-year survival in groups with and without concomitant thoracic lymphadenectomy to matched patients. They report a trend toward improved median and overall survival after systematic lymphadenectomy. Furthermore, they observed that on multivariate analysis of matched pairs lymphadenectomy was the only factor associated with increased survival. They speculate that this phenomenon might be due to a more complete resection of tumor tissue or to the disintegration of lymphatic drainage.