A Comparison Between Lymphangiography and Pelvic Node Dissection in the Staging of Prostatic Cancer

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Abstract
Of 40 patients with prostatic cancer who had pedal lymphangiography during the initial evaluation and subsequently underwent pelvic node dissection or biopsy, a surprisingly high number had falsely positive (59%) or negative (36%) X-ray findings. Initially the tumors were considered clinically to be stage B in 24 cases, stage C in 13 and stage D in 3. After lymph node dissection only 17 tumors were still considered to be stage B and 7 were stage C, while 16 tumors were actually stage D. This surgical staging is important for further management of the patient as well as prognosis. Pedal lymphangiography alone is unreliable for accurate assessment of the regional lymph node status in clinically localized prostatic cancer.