Laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy in a patient with bulky paraaortic ovarian cancer recurrence

Abstract

A 72 year-old patient presented for endometrioid ovarian cancer follow-up. She had no complains, normal CA125, but the CT scan showed bulky retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy. She was treated two years ago with total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, omentectomy and peritoneal biopsies. No lymphadenectomy was performed at that time. She also had adjuvant chemotherapy (6 cycles of carbo/taxol). She was referred to laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy2. The complete technique is demonstrated, starting with patient and team positioning and trocar placement. It demonstrated step by step the dissection of retroperitoneal space, ureters, renal and lumbar vessels, sympathetic nerves and all other important retroperitoneal structures. The film demonstrates that this approach can offer a less morbid, minimally invasive surgical treatment alternative (Gallotta et al., 2014, Ferrero et al., 2014).