Lymphography and percutaneous fine needle node aspiration biopsy in the staging of bladder carcinoma

Forty-two patients with infiltrating bladder tumor were submitted to pedal lymphography with percutaneous fine needle node aspiration biopsy on an out patient basis. Of 41 evaluable patients, 59% had a positive lymphangiogram. Adequate material was obtained in 81% of the patients. Of 12 patients with a normal lymphography, none had a positive aspiration whereas 40% of the positive lymphangiograms correlated with a positive aspiration. The high rate of positive lymphangiogram negative aspirate is attributed to inflammatory changes due to previous TUR of the tumor. Twenty-one patients were submitted to radical cystectomy: 12 negative aspirations correlated with 11 negative lymphadenectomies, and 4 positive aspirations with 4 positive lymphadenectomies. There was no mortality and only mild morbidity in this series. Lymphography with fine needle percutaneous node aspiration biopsy has a role in the pre-operative staging of bladder carcinoma. Positive pelvic wall lymph nodes upgrade bladder carcinoma from a local to a systemic disease that is no longer amenable to any form of local treatment. Nodal assessment is therefore critical to treatment planning in order to spare the N+ patients unnecessary radical surgery. Pelvic lymph nodes have been evaluated, in the past, radiologically by bipedal lymphography or C.A.T. scanning. The high false positive and negative rates of these procedures (Benson et al., 1981; Boccon-Gibod et al., 1982) preclude their routine use (Correa 1982; Walsh et al., 1980).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)