Vulvar carcinoma with 0.5 mm of invasion and associated inguinal lymph node metastasis

A case of vulvar carcinoma with 0.5 mm of invasion treated by radical wide local excision only, which later developed ipsilateral inguinal lymph node recurrence, is presented. This represents the least amount of invasion reported resulting in inguinal lymph node metastasis. Review of the literature of stage I vulvar carcinoma with less than 1 mm of invasion indicates that this phenomenon occurs in only 1.6% of all patients who have undergone inguinal lymphadenectomy. Although this represents the second report of ipsilateral inguinal nodal metastasis associated with less than 1 mm of invasion, we continue to perform radical wide local excision without ipsilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy until more cases demonstrate a higher incidence of lymph node involvement.