Eighty-six patients with pelvic malignancies had paraaortic node dissection; 30% had positive paraaortic lymph nodes. At the time of laparotomy, 77 patients had malignancies apparenlty confined to the pelvis after extensive work-up and histologic examination of tissue biopsies outside the pelvis; 20 (26%) had metastatic cancer in the paraaortic lymph nodes. Thirteen of 49 patients with cancer of the cervix, 5 of 18 with uterine cancer and 2 of 10 with ovarian cancer had positive paraaortic lymph nodes. The value of paraaortic dissection in patients with pelvic malignancies apparently confined to the pelvis is discussed.