Total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy for endometrial cancer

The surgical treatment of endometrial cancer is still a matter of debate. Two of the most controversial issues are the beneficial effect of lymphadenectomy and the feasibility of laparoscopy. The aim of the case report was to describe the feasibility of total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy in a 56-years-old Caucasian woman diagnosed with endometrial cancer. After a CO2 pneumoperitoneum was created the peritoneum was incised cranially to the para-colic fossa just above the external iliac vessels until the psoas muscle is visualized. The external iliac vessels were identified and lymph nodes from the anterior and the medial surface were removed until the iliac bifurcation and placed in an Endo-bag. The procedure continued with the identification of the hypo-gastric and the umbilical artery which were pulled medially in order to open the obturator fossa and remove the lymphatic tissue superior to the obturator nerve. The next step was the opening of the para-vesical and pararectal spaces by using blunt dissection; this maneuver was facilitated by pulling the uterine fundus towards the opposite direction with the uterine manipulator. The parametrium being isolated between the two spaces can be safely divided. At the superior limit of the parametrium the uterine artery is identified and divided at its origin. Thereafter, by placing the uterine fundus in median and posterior position, the vesicouterine peritoneal fold was opened by scissors and a bladder dissection from the low uterine segment down to the vagina was performed. Then the ureter is dissected, freed from its attachments to the parametria and de-crossed from the uterine artery down to its entry into the bladder. Next the rectovaginal space is opened and the utero-sacral ligaments divided; this allows the division of para-vaginal attachments. The vagina is sectioned and the specimen is extracted transvaginally. Then the vaginal stump was sutured by laparoscopy. Total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy was not associated with an increased operative time or blood loss and appears to be a feasible alternative to conventional surgical approach in patients with endometrial carcinoma.