Preoperative biopsies as predictor for the necessity of inguinal lymph node surgery in squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva-a retrospective tertiary center analysis

Purpose Squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva (SQCV) is the fifth common cancer in women. Necessity of inguinal lymph node surgery depends on the depth of stromal invasion, inducing lymph node surgery, if depth of invasion is more than 1 mm. In this study we tested the prediction of stromal infiltration depth by measurements in preoperative biopsies. Methods We analyzed whether a different operative strategy in respect to lymph node surgery would have been chosen based on the pre- or postoperative depth of stromal invasion for each patient. Examination of infiltration depth in preoperative biopsies and surgical specimen were compared. Results In total 77 patients were included in this study. Of those 89.6% showed different depths of stromal invasion comparing the pre- and postoperative specimen. Within seventeen patients (22.1%) preoperative depth was 1 mm or less and a postoperative depth was > 1 mm. Conclusion We pointed, that only in 77.9% of the patients who should have undergo lymph node surgery based on the postoperative depth of infiltration underwent this procedure. Consequentially in 22.1% of the cases a second operation could not be prevented with a preoperative taken biopsy as indicator for the necessity of lymph node surgery.