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Updated: May 9, 2026
Robot-assisted Total Mesorectal Excision and Lateral Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection for Locally Advanced Middle-low Rectal Cancer
Published on: February 12, 2022
Surgical treatment for isolated inguinal lymph node metastasis in lower rectal adenocarcinoma patients improves
Tomohiro Adachi1, Takao Hinoi, Hiroyuki Egi
1Department of Surgery, Division of Frontier Medical Sciences, Programs for Biomedical Research, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi Minami-ku, 7348551, Hiroshima, Japan, adachitomohiro@hotmail.com.
Purpose:
No consensus has been formed on the optimal treatment strategy for the prognosis of patients with inguinal lymph node (ILN) metastasis from lower rectal adenocarcinoma. We, therefore, retrospectively analyzed outcomes of patients with ILN metastasis from lower rectal adenocarcinoma.
Methods:
Of 323 patients with lower rectal adenocarcinoma treated at a single institution between November 1993 and March 2010, 10 had synchronous or metachronous ILN metastasis, as confirmed by curative resection (R0) of the primary lesion. Outcomes of these 10 patients were assessed.
Results:
The 10 patients with ILN metastasis were divided into two groups: group A (two patients who did not undergo ILN resection surgery because of metastases at other sites) and group B (eight patients with no other metastases who underwent surgery). Both patients in group A, with median overall survival of 5.2 months, died due to the other metastases, whereas five out of eight patients in group B survived (P = 0.001). Group B patients were further subclassified into synchronous (group B1) and metachronous (group B2) metastasis (n = 4 each) groups. Two patients in group B1 died of other metastases, which was diagnosed later, whereas three patients in group B2 survived.
Conclusions:
Some patients with isolated inguinal lymph node metastasis show a good prognosis after lymph node excision and, therefore, should be treated surgically. Patients with metachronous metastases have a better prognosis than patients with synchronous ILN metastases. Nevertheless, assessment of additional patients for prognosis and treatment strategy is warranted.
