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. 2021 Nov;39(11):4029-4035.
doi: 10.1007/s00345-021-03630-8. Epub 2021 Mar 20.

Pathological reporting of cystectomy lymph nodes: a retrospective analysis of experience in Paris

André Oszwald  1 , Gabriel Wasinger  1 , Laura Larnaudie  2 , Justine Varinot  2 , Philippe Sebe  3 , Olivier Cussenot  4   5 , Eva Compérat  6   7   8
Affiliations

Pathological reporting of cystectomy lymph nodes: a retrospective analysis of experience in Paris

André Oszwald et al. World J Urol. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: Pathological evaluation of pelvic lymph node (LN) dissection (PLND) is important for management of cystectomy patients. However, challenges such as unclear interobserver variability of LN counting remain. Here, we assess interobserver variability of LN measures and their clinical utility, with a focus on variant histology.

Methods: We retrieved radical cystectomy cases with PLND between 2010 and 2016 and reevaluated pathological parameters; number of total and metastatic LN, LN density (LND), length of metastatic LN and metastases, extranodal extension (ENE).

Results: We report 96 patients: median age of 71a, 34 cases pN+, 36 cases with any extent of variant histology, median follow-up 10 months. Perivesical LN were only rarely identified, but frequently metastatic (4/9). Variant histology (34 cases) frequently exhibited LN metastasis (53% of pN+ cases). Interobserver variance was poor for total LN (kappa = 0.167), excellent for positive LN (0.85) and pN staging (0.96), and mediocre for LND (0.53). ROC analysis suggests that both LND and the sum of LN metastasis length may predict outcome (AUC 0.83 and 0.75, respectively).

Conclusion: Our study confirms the notion of LND as a prognostic measure, but cautions due to strong interobserver variance of LN counts. The sum length of LN metastases could be a measure that is independent of LN counts. We find that microscopically identified perivesical LN merit particular attention. In summary, our study highlights current challenges in pathological reporting of PLND, confirms previous observations and forms a basis for further studies.

Keywords: Lymph node; Metastasis; Size of metastasis; Sum of metastasis; Urothelial carcinoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution of LN by location. The top line indicates the absolute counts of positive LN/total LN counted over all cases. The bottom line (bold) indicates the number of patients with positive LN in this region/the number of patients where lymph nodes from this region were submitted
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparisons between urothelial histology and variant histology. Metastatic LN counts are greater in the group showing variant histology component (a). These tumors also exhibit greater pT stage upon resection (b). Length of metastases and ratio of metastasis to LN length are shown (c)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
ROC analysis of LN assessments. LND, pN+ count and sum length of metastases show high AUC (stated in graph), pN stage, maximum or mean length of metastasis show lower AUC
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