Video: DaPeCa-1 – Diagnostic Accuracy of SNB in Penile Cancer

DaPeCa-1: Diagnostic Accuracy of Sentinel Node Biopsy in 222 Penile Cancer Patients at four Tertiary Referral Centres — a National Study from Denmark

Jakob K. Jakobsen*, Kim P. Krarup†, Peter Sommer†, Henrik Nerstrøm†, Vivi Bakholdt‡, Jens A. Sørensen‡, Kasper Ø. Olsen*, Bjarne Kromann-Andersen§, Birgitte G. Toft¶, Søren Høyer**, Kirsten Bouchelouche†† and Jørgen B. Jensen*

*Departments of Urology, **Pathology, ††Nuclear Medicine and PET-Centre, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, †Departments of Urology, ¶Pathology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, ‡Department of Plastic Surgery, Odense University Hospital, Odense, and §Department of Urology, Herlev University Hospital, Herlev, Denmark

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OBJECTIVES

To estimate the diagnostic accuracy of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNB) in patients with penile cancer and assess SNB complications in a national multicentre setting.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Retrospectively data were collected from records in four university centres by one medical doctor covering all SNBs performed in Denmark between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2010. Patients had either impalpable lymph nodes (LNs) in one or both groins, or had a palpable inguinal mass from which aspiration cytology failed to reveal malignancy. Patients were injected with nanocolloid technetium and had a scintigram recorded before the SNB. The primary endpoint was LN recurrence on follow-up. The secondary endpoint was complications after SNB. Diagnostic accuracy was computed.

RESULTS

In all, 409 groins in 222 patients were examined by SNB. The median (interquartile range) follow-up of patients who survived was 6.6 (5–10) years. Of 343 negative groins, eight were false negatives. The sensitivity was 89.2% (95% confidence interval 79.8–95.2%) per groin. Interestingly, four of 67 T1G1 patients had a positive SNB. In all, 28 of 222 (13%) patients had complications of Clavien-Dindo grade I–IIIa.

CONCLUSION

Penile cancer SNB with a close follow-up stages LN involvement reliably and has few complications in a national multicentre setting. Inguinal LN dissection was avoided in 76% of patients.