The number of pelvic lymph nodes in the quality control and prognosis of radical hysterectomy for the treatment of cervical cancer.

AIMS: To determine if the number of removed lymph nodes in radical hysterectomy with lymphadenectomy (RHL) influences survival of patients with early stage cervical cancer and to analyze the relation of different factors like patient age, tumour size and infiltration depth with the number of nodes examined in node-negative early stage cervical cancer patients.

METHODS: Of consecutive patients, who underwent RHL between January 1984 and April 2005, 331 had negative nodes (group A) without adjuvant therapy and 136 had positive nodes (group B). The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model were used to detect statistical significance. Factors associated with excision of nodes were confirmed with linear regression models.

RESULTS: The median number of removed nodes was 19 and 18 for group A and group B, respectively. There was no significant relationship between the number of removed nodes and the cancer specific survival (CSS) or disease free survival (DSF) for patients of group A (p=0.625 and p=0.877, respectively). The number of removed nodes in group B was not significantly associated with the CSS (p=0.084) but it was for the DSF (p=0.014). Factors like patient age, tumour size and infiltration depth were not associated with the number of nodes.

CONCLUSIONS: No relation was found between the number of negative nodes examined after RHL for the treatment of early stage cervical cancer and CSS or DFS. However, a higher amount of removed lymph nodes leaded to a better DFS for patients with positive nodes. It is suggested that patients with positive nodes benefit from a complete pelvic lymphadenectomy and a sufficient yield of removed nodes.