OBJECTIVE

To report our experience with post-chemotherapy nerve-sparing retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) for advanced germ cell tumor (GCT).

METHODS

Between 1994 and 2008, 92 patients with advanced GCT underwent RPLND after multiple treatments with systemic chemotherapy at our institution. A nerve-sparing RPLND was carried out in 78 patients (84.8%; median age 32 years). Of them, 19 had a seminoma and 59 had a non-seminoma.

RESULTS

Lumbar splanchnic nerves controlling ejaculatory function were macroscopically preserved during RPLND. Bilateral and unilateral lumbar splanchnic nerves were preserved in 40 patients and 38 patients, respectively. Sixty-five patients could be evaluated for ejaculation. Fifty-four patients (83.1%) achieved antegrade ejaculation with a median postoperative interval of 3 months (range: 1-10 months). Twenty-eight patients (28/30: 93.3%) and 26 patients (26/35: 74.3%) undergoing bilateral and unilateral nerve-sparing RPLND had antegrade ejaculation, respectively (P = 0.041). Only two patients (2.6%) had mediastinal and retroperitoneal recurrences during a median follow-up of 42 months (range: 1-138 months), respectively. However, these patients were cured by chemotherapy and surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

Post-chemotherapy nerve-sparing RPLND preserves ejaculatory function in the majority of patients with advanced GCT without increasing the risk of local recurrence.