Background: The local recurrence of rectal cancer classifies 4 types, anterior, posterior, lateral compartment and anastomotic site. This study evaluates outcome of laparoscopic lateral lymph node dissection(LLND)against the lateral lymph node recurrence.
Method: Five patients were diagnosed as the lateral lymph node recurrence and underwent laparoscopic LLND. We diagnosed the lateral lymph node recurrence by CT, MRI and PET-CT. All cases revealed abnormal uptake on PET-CT.
Result: The median of age is 63. Three patients are male. About primary tumor, 4 patients had tumor below peritoneal reflection and one patient above it. Two patients received neoadjuvant(chemo)radiotherapy(RT group)and one of them underwent laparoscopic LLND at the first operation. The median period from operation to recurrence was 25 months. Before re-operation, 3 patients received chemotherapy. Pathological assessments confirmed pathological complete response(pCR) in all three cases. The median of operation time and bleeding were 257 min and 0 mL, respectively. No complications, more than Grade III(Clavien-Dindo classification)happened. The median follow-up period from re-operation was 34 months. Four patients have no recurrence and one presents lung metastasis. All 5 patients are alive.
Conclusion: Laparoscope magnifies various pelvic structures. Therefore we perform operation more exactly and safety. In the case of local recurrence, especially lateral compartment, tumor is easy to invade adjacent structures. Then, it is often difficult to do R0 resection. If we find the recurrence lesions earlier and induce neoadjuvant chemotherapy, we can improve R0 resection rate.