[Video endoscopic inguinal lymphadenectomy in penile cancer: Systematic review.]

OBJECTIVES: Penile cancer is not very frequent. To control the disease oncologically, we must perform inguinal lymphadenectomy in cases of high-risk histology, poor prognosis and palpable lymph nodes. The open inguinal lymphadenectomy has a high rate of morbidity. Consequently, this systematic review intends to summarize the published literature regarding the oncologic and post-surgery outcomes in video-endoscopic inguinal lymphadenectomy (VEIL). METHODS: A literature search has conducted through Pubmed, EMBASE and Cochrane library for English and Spanish articles. RESULTS: Our literature search identified 12 articles. In total, 161 patients have been subjected to 226 VEIL. Their average age was 55.66 years. In the case of open inguinal lymphadenectomy, 90 patients have been subjected to 106 operations. The rate of cutaneous complications was 6% for VEIL and 55.6% for open lymphadenectomy. The rate of lymphatic complications was very similar in both types of lymphadenectomy. The average number of lymph nodes obtained was 9.12 for VEIL and 7.02 lymph nodes for the open approach. CONCLUSION: Video-endoscopic inguinal lymphadenectomy contributes to less morbidity with a lower-rate of cutaneous complications and less severity. Furthermore, VEIL gives lower hospital stay without changing in initial oncologic outcomes. Although we need longer series to stablish the oncologic long-term results.