Laparoscopic Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection After Chemotherapy: A Review

Context: to review and summarize the literature regarding the current status of postchemotherapy laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (pcl-rplnd) in patients with testicular germ cell tumor. evidence acquisition: a comprehensive review of the english literature was performed using the pubmed database using the terms “laparoscopy” or “laparoscopic”, retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, and “postchemotherapy” or “chemotherapy”. results: pc l-rplnd is more challenging than primary l-rplnd. however, morbidity, operative time, and complications have improved as surgical experience has increased. conclusions: pcl-rplnd is a technically demanding procedure and should be performed in high volume-centers. it has been shown that pcl-rplnd is a feasible and effective procedure in experienced hands. the oncological efficacy of this approach is similar to the results of open series.