Bilateral pelvic lymph node dissection for Chinese patients with penile cancer: a multicenter collaboration study

Background Current guidelines recommend pelvic lymphadenectomy (PLND) for patients with pelvic lymph node metastasis and special state. However, these data and recommendations do not distinguish the role of PLND in different patient groups and confirm the final benefits. The aim of this study was to confirm the efficacy of pelvic lymphadenectomy (PLND) for the different groups of patients. Methods Data obtained from 7 centers were retrospectively analyzed. Of the patients, 190 pN2-3 penile carcinoma patients confirmed by bilateral inguinal lymph node excision were included in this study. Sixty-nine and 121 of these patients did and did not undergo bilateral PLND, respectively. The baseline differences from the patients were matched by propensity score analysis. Results In this study, the Kaplan–Meier estimated disease-specific survival (DSS) was not significantly different between the PLND and no-PLND groups ( P = 0.796). According to the propensity score matching for T stage, N stage, grade, adjuvant therapies, and lymph node stage (number of inguinal lymph node metastasis and extranodal extension), 48 patients were selected for each group. Among the pN2 patients, the PLND group showed higher DSS rates than the no-surgery group ( P = 0.030). However, even after matching, survival did not differ between the PLND and no-PLND patients among all patients ( P = 0.609) and pN3 patients ( P = 0.417) with comparable DSS. Conclusion Bilateral PLND may improve survival in pN2 patients. Men with pN3 may not benefit from bilateral PLND.