Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection for Prostate Cancer: Frequency and Distribution of Nodal Metastases in a Contemporary Radical Prostatectomy Series

In contemporary American patients with clinically localized prostate cancer lymph node metastases were found more often and frequently exclusively in the obturator and hypogastric areas than in the external iliac area. Pelvic lymph node dissection limited to the external iliac area above the obturator nerve would identify and remove lymph node metastases in only a third of the patients with positive nodes found at full pelvic lymph node dissection.