When the limited pelvic lymph node dissection in prostate cancer patients can be justified?

Extended pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) is an important diagnostic step in the surgical treatment of moderate and high risk prostate cancer (PCa) according to D'Amico criteria. However, it has a number of complications and prolonged time of surgery. Limited PLND has a more favorable complication profile, but is not used because of its low diagnostic efficacy in low-risk RP patients, while in higher-risk groups its relevance remains controversial. The goal – to determine the diagnostic efficacy of limited PLND in radical prostatectomy in patients of moderate and high risk. A retrospective analysis included 377 PCa patients in whom the radical prostatectomy with PLND was performed in the period between 2013 and 2016. Patients' age was 63.4±6.2 y.o. 40 (10.6%) patients had low, 126 (33.4%) – moderate and 211 (56.0%) – high risk PCa. No statistically significant differences in the number of complications of PLND in open and laparoscopic surgery (p=0.16) were found. The overall frequency of complications was 22.8% (95% CI 18.6 - 27.1). When comparing clinical and histological parameters in groups with and without metastases, statistically significant differences were found between the levels of total prostate specific antigen before surgery (p=0.010); the Gleason score (corresponding median values of 8.0 (8.0; 9.0) and 7.0 (6.0; 7.0); p<0.001) and local tumor status (T) – the patients with stage >T2 53.1% and 19.4%, respectively (p<0.001). In 32 (8.5%) patients metastatic lesions of lymphatic nodes were found. Of these, 28 (87.5%) were related to high- risk, 4 (12.5%) – to moderate- risk. The main prognostic criteria for lymph node metastasis are preoperative PSA level, the Gleason Score, and T-status of the tumor. According to ROC analysis, the diagnostic efficacy of limited PLND increases in patients at high and moderate risk at a total PSA level greater than 18.4 ng/ml. This can be used to justify the indications for limited PLND in patients in these groups to reduce the number of postoperative complications associated with extended procedure.