The role of pelvic lymph node dissection during radical cystectomy for bladder cancer.

Abstract

Radical cystectomy with bilateral pelvic iliac lymphadenectomy is a standard treatment for high-grade, invasive bladder cancer, providing the best survival outcomes and the lowest local recurrence rates. Even if the precise extent of lymph node dissection is still not standardized, many studies support a more extended lymphadenectomy to obtain better cancer-specific survival rates without significantly increasing the morbidity or mortality of the surgery. The concept of lymph node density may become a useful prognostic variable in high-risk node-positive patients.