Laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy for stage I non-seminomatous testicular tumors.

Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) is the most accurate method to evaluate the presence and extent of retroperitoneal nodal metastases in clinical stage I non-seminomatous germ cell testicular carcinoma. In our Department the open "nerve sparing" RPLND is already the standard surgical treatment for these tumors and laparoscopic technique is employed in surgical treatment of digestive diseases as cholelithiasis, hiatal hernias and gastrointestinal tumors; we report our first experience with laparoscopic RPLND in patients with low stage non-seminomatous germ cell testicular tumors (NSGCTT). A laparoscopic modified template RPLND was performed in 5 high-risk patients with non-seminomatous germ cell clinical stage I tumors by a transperitoneal approach. In 4 of the 5 cases a template dissection was performed. In one pathological stage II tumor a limited lymph node dissection was performed and the patient underwent postoperative chemotherapy. Mean operative time was 190 minutes (range 160-210). No retrograde ejaculation occurred. The mean number of dissected nodes was 21 (range 16-25). At mean follow-up of 16.3 months (range 12-21) the 4 operated patients with pathological stage I NSGCTT are disease free without ejaculatory or urinary dysfunction. Our preliminary experience suggests that laparoscopic RPLND for stage I NSGCTT is feasible and safe for surgeons largely trained in either laparoscopic digestive surgery or open RPLND for whom the learning curve of that minimally invasive approach is lower than expected.

Choice of the surgical treatment in early gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The authors report their experience in choosing the surgical treatment for early gastric cancer. METHODOLOGY: A retrospective study was conducted to examine the long-term outcome of 18 patients with early gastric cancer (10%) on a series of 180 patients treated for gastric carcinoma by the same surgical équipe from January 1986 to June 1997. Radical surgery with gastrectomy and extended lymphadenectomy ("regional" from 1986 to 1991; D2 from 1992 to 1997) was chosen as standard treatment for early gastric cancer except in elderly or high-risk patients and in cases of mucosal tumors diagnosed at definitive histology after surgery for benign diseases in which limited surgery was performed. RESULTS: All patients received curative (R0) surgery. One patient with mucosal-N1 tumor and another one with submucosal-N0 tumor died because of gastric cancer at 51 and 42 postoperative months respectively. The mean follow-up time was 99.8 (11-193) months. The overall 5-year and 10-year survival rates are 86.7% and 86.7% respectively. The 5- and 10-year survival rates for intramucosal tumors are 91% and 91% respectively and for submucosal cancer are 75% and 75% (P=0.39). CONCLUSIONS: According to the prognostic value of nodal involvement and the difficulty in achieving a preoperative accurate diagnosis of depth of invasion and of nodal involvement in early gastric cancer, a radical gastric resection with D2-lymphadenectomy should be performed.

[Thyroid anaplastic tumor: our experience]. / Il tumore anaplastico della tiroide: nostra esperienza.

We report our experience over the past 10 years in the treatment of thyroid anaplastic carcinoma analysing retrospectively 21 cases of surgical treatment (7 total thyroidectomies, 12 partial resection of the tumours and 2 biopsies). We consider the prognosis, which is invariably fatal, with no survival at 19 months and a mean survival of only 9 months, and assess the validity of a combined therapeutic approach (surgery + radiotherapy + chemotherapy) to increase survival and, above all, the patient's quality of life. The importance is stressed of through monitoring of risk factors consisting in concomitant or previous benign or malignant thyroid disease, considering total thyroidectomy to be necessary in principle for any variety of thyroid cancer. Lastly, we examine the survival trend in terms of residual disease and the presence or otherwise of remote metastases.