Laparoscopic Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection for Urologic Malignancies

Of the major advancements in clinical surgery during the last half of the twentieth century, the development of laparoscopic intervention must be considered among the most important. Embraced by many surgeons today, the employment of laparoscopic surgical technique affords the patient numerous benefits. The postoperative morbidity often associated with an open surgical incision, the profound postoperative pain, a protracted inpatient stay, and a prolonged convalescence are greatly reduced by the utilization of laparoscopic surgery. For these reasons, laparoscopy is widely recognized as an excellent means of staging urologic pelvic malignancy. This chapter outlines the indications, contraindications, principles of patient selection, techniques, and complications associated with laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection (LPLND) for staging urogenital malignancy related to the urinary bladder and urethra and in men the prostate and penis.