[Regional lymph node metastases in renal cell cancer. Morphologic findings and clinical consequences (authors...

With a uniform pathohistological technique of investigation the frequency of histological verified lymph node metastases in tumor nephrectomy depends on the surgical approach. Lymph node metastases were seen twice (6%) in 33 cases of lumbar nephrectomy, 22 times (17%) in 132 cases of abdomino-paracolic operations without systematic lymphadenectomy, 11 times (37%) in 30 abdomino-transplical nephrectomies with systematic lymphadenectomy. Primarily, one can expect lymph node metastases in case of infiltration of capsula adiposa, macroscopic invasion of veins, histologic grade 3 of malignancy, and/or if the tumor exceeds a size of 10 cm. Metastases are also possible in not enlarged and macroscopic normal lymph nodes. Without systematic dissection of the regional abdominal lymph nodes unknown regional lymph node metastases are likely to remain. Therefore, the treatment of choice in renal cell cancer is abdominal transplical nephrectomy with systematic lymphadenomectomy.