Retroperitoneal vascular surgery for the treatment of giant growing teratoma syndrome.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether an aggressive surgical policy, which included vascular surgery with standard retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND), would be justified for managing bulky retroperitoneal growing teratoma syndrome (GTS). METHODS: Data were collected retrospectively from a series of 12 patients who, from 1992 to 2010, underwent radical RPLND for bulky GTS (retroperitoneal mass≥10 cm in diameter). For complete resection, vascular procedures and nephrectomy were performed. RESULTS: Median tumor diameter was 100 mm before and 140 mm (range 100-300) after chemotherapy. Two patients underwent iterative RPLND. In addition to RPLND, patients underwent aortic section with aortic anastomosis (n=6), inferior vena cava resection (n=3), both the latter and the former (n=1), and aortic graft with left nephrectomy (n=2). There were no operative deaths; 3 patients had complications (25%), but none were related to extended procedures. The median hospital stay was 15 days. Median follow up was 59 months (range 10-162). One patient died of metastatic cutaneous melanoma 112 months after RPLND, 10 patients survived and are disease-free, and one patient had a para-aortic recurrence. CONCLUSION: A 100% complete resection rate, long-term survival, no mortality, and acceptable morbidity were achieved when vascular surgery and left nephrectomy were combined with standard RPLND for bulky GTS.