[Regional lymphadenectomy for renal pelvic and ureteral cancers]

Thirty-four patients with renal pelvic and ureteral cancers received regional lymphadenectomy since 1980. The patients consisted of 21 with renal pelvic cancers, 10 with ureteral and 3 with renal pelvic and ipsilateral ureteral. Fifteen patients (44.1%) had metastatic nodes: 13 with renal hilar or para-aortic metastases and 2 with pelvic nodal involvements only. Thirteen of these 15 patients with nodal metastasis had high grade tumors and 14 had high stage tumors. The 5-year survival rate of these 15 patients was 26.3% which was considerably poor when compared with 19 patients without metastasis. Twenty patients with high grade and high stage tumors who received respective operations with regional lymphadenectomy had significantly better prognosis compared with the historical control group (15 patients, from 1961 to 1979). Additional regional lymphadenectomy for renal pelvic and ureteral cancers appears to be a valuable operation for improving prognosis.