Sentinel lymph node biopsy in vulvar cancer: status, level of knowledge, and counseling in outpatient setting
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GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY
Sentinel lymph node biopsy in vulvar cancer: status, level of knowledge, and counseling in outpatient setting Marlene Röttger1 · Hermann Hertel1 · Laura Kaukemüller1 · Lars Brodowski1 · Markus Flentje2 · Peter Hillemanns1 · Rüdiger Klapdor1 Received: 2 May 2020 / Accepted: 11 July 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Purpose Evaluating the counseling of patients with vulvar cancer in outpatient setting regarding the application of sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND), the selection of hospitals for further treatment, and level of knowledge. Methods A questionnaire containing 29 questions about SLND in vulvar cancer was sent to gynecologists in Lower Saxony. The questionnaire contained multiple choice questions and open questions. The study was approved by the local ethics committee. Results The median age of the 86 respondents was 54 (26–66) years. Most participants (83.1%) reported to only treat one to five patients with vulvar cancer per year. Interestingly, 70.5% of the gynecologists send their patients to university hospitals and 64.1% to hospitals offering maximum care, respectively. Of all, 32.7% replied that SLND was performed rarely or never in their patients. The gynecologists answered that only 36.7% of the patients are well informed about advantages and possible disadvantages of SLND. Most (84%) felt responsible to counsel patients on treatment decisions independently from or additionally to the hospital. Of all, 72% replied that they are not completely sure about the exact recurrence rates after SLND. Of notice, 66% believe that SLND for vulvar cancer is safe if applied in specialized centers and 92% stated that focusing treatment on specialized centers is required for best results. Conclusion SLND for vulvar cancer is widely accepted and regularly recommended among gynecologists. Outpatient doctors report to send most patients to specialized centers. However, it appears that patients remain uninformed after counseling in the clinics and that there is a lack of detailed knowledge about risks and complication rates of groin treatment in the outpatient setting. Keywords Vulvar cancer · Sentinel lymph node biopsy · Outpatient setting · Groin recurrence
Introduction The clinical relevance of vulvar cancer grows because of its increasing incidence [1]. For patients with vulvar cancer affection of lymph node metastases represents the most Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-020-05701-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Rüdiger Klapdor klapdor.ruediger@mh‑hannover.de 1
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hanover Medical School, Carl‑Neuberg‑Street 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany
Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
2
important prognostic factor for survival [1, 2]. The radical lymph node dissection (LND) of the groin was used as the standard procedure for diagnosis and therapy of lymph node metastas
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