Elsevier

Gynecologic Oncology

Volume 45, Issue 3, June 1992, Pages 313-316
Gynecologic Oncology

Regular article
Prognostic value of pathological patterns of lymph node positivity in squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva Stage III and IVA FIGO

https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-8258(92)90311-6Get rights and content

Abstract

Lymph node positivity in invasive squamous cell vulvar cancer implies a severe decrease in survival rates. Pathological lymph node positivity covers a wide range of metastatization patterns. In the present investigation the nodal positivity of 53 patients affected by Stage III and IVA invasive vulvar squamous cell carcinoma has been carefully evaluated and correlated with survival. Number, size of the metastasis inside the node, intracapsular or extracapsular site of the metastasis, and immune response of the positive nodes were considered. Cancer-related survival has been obtained for the whole study group (53 cases), for the patients with monolateral node positivity (36 cases), and for the patients showing only one positive node (19 cases). The diameter and the site of the metastasis were significantly correlated with survival in all three groups studied. Patients showing an intracapsular positivity or a size of metastasis less than 5 mm had a 5-year cancer-related survival of almost 90%, while patients showing a metastasis larger than 15 mm or an extracapsular site had a 20% survival. The results demonstrate that patients affected by invasive squamous cell vulvar cancer with positive nodes can be divided into two groups with a significantly different survival according to the histopathological pattern of lymph node invasion.

References (20)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (118)

  • Bartholin gland carcinomas

    2023, Diagnosis and Treatment of Rare Gynecologic Cancers
  • British Gynaecological Cancer Society (BGCS) vulval cancer guidelines: Recommendations for practice

    2020, European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
    Citation Excerpt :

    Contralateral inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy should be performed when ipsilateral nodes show metastatic disease [68]. For patients with positive nodes, the number and size of lymph node metastases determines outcome [43,123–125]. Extracapsular spread of tumour is associated with particularly poor prognosis [123,124].

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text