Impact of pelvic lymph node dissection during radical prostatectomy on 30-day post operative complications: Results from a large national database

238 Background: Pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) during radical prostatectomy (RP) is the most effective method for detecting lymph node metastases in patients with prostate cancer. The association between PLND during RP and morbidity, especially thromboembolic adverse events (AEs), remains unclear. We assessed the effect of PLND on 30−day postoperative AEs in patients undergoing RP using the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database (NSQIP). Methods: A total of 21,895 men undergoing RP between 2006 and 2013 were classified into two groups according to surgical approach (MIS−RP vs. ORP) and whether PLND was performed. Multivariate logistic regression adjusting for approach and demographic features was performed to assess the impact of PLND for predicting two primary endpoints (overall complications and major complications defined as Clavien−Dindo ≥ 3) and for 17 types of complications. P−values were adjusted to maintain an experiment−wise p < 0.05. Results: MIS−RP and ORP was performed in 17,354 (79.3%) and 4,541 (20.7%) patients, respectively. PLND was performed in 7,579 (43.7%) and 3,597 (79.2%) patients in the MIS−RP and ORP groups, respectively. The overall postoperative complication rate was 8.7% (5.5% for MIS−RP and 21.0% for ORP). PLND was not associated with a higher risk of DVT (OR 0.99; p= 0.98) or PE (OR 1.02; p= 0.91). However, PLND was associated with a higher risk of superficial surgical site infection (OR 1.68; p = 0.013), organ space surgical site infection (OR 1.77; p = 0.02), and perioperative transfusion (OR 1.32; p = 0.002) regardless of surgical approach. PLND was not associated with overall or major AEs on multivariable analysis. ORP was associated with a significantly higher risk of overall (OR 4.64, p < 0.0001) and major (OR 1.6, p = 0.0004) AEs compared to MIS−RP. Conclusions: PLND during RP is associated with a significantly increased risk of certain types of AEs within the 30−day post−operative period. However, there appears to be no significant association between PLND and thromboembolic AEs.