Introduction/Background Lymphadenectomy is an integral part in the management of women with gynecologic malignancies. Pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy is used for staging propose and, in some cases, it is presumed to have therapeutic effect. Surgical technique to perform lymphadenectomy using a laparoscopic approach is still not uniform and keeps being criticized. The purpose of this study was to evaluate our own experience of laparoscopic pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy for gynecologic cancers.

Methodology We performed retrospective analysis of 144 patients, who were treated in Campus Charité Mitte at the Department of Gynecology between January 2011 and Mai 2015. The pelvic and/or para-aortic lymphadenectomies with or without other operative procedures were performed by five experienced oncology surgeons.

Results The median age and body mass index (BMI) of the patients were 48 years (range 26–81 years) and 23.9 kg/m² (range 18–46 kg/m²). All of lymphadenectomies were performed laparoscopically and no conversion to laparotomy was needed. Intraoperative complications occurred in 10 patients (6.9% of cases): five bowel lesions, two urethral injuries, two vascular injuries and one anesthesiologic complication. Early postoperative complications (six weeks after the operation) occurred in 83 women (57.6% of all patients). There was only one complication - in 46 cases, two in 25 cases, tree in 9 cases and five complications in 3 cases. According to Clavien-Dindo Classification 130 of documented complications (94.2%) were grade I or II and only 8 complications (5.7%) ³grade III. The patients without any complications were 45.3 years old and patients with at least one early complication 50.8 years (p=0.03). BMI, and previous surgeries did not influence on occurrence of intraoperative or early postoperative complication rates.

Conclusion Laparoscopic lymphadenectomy can still be considered a technically feasible and safe procedure for staging gynecologic malignancies despite BMI, age and previous surgeries as mentioned in earlier studies.

Disclosure Nothing to disclose.