Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional
Official Title: Videoscopic Versus Open Inguinal Lymphadenectomy for Sentinel Node Positive Cutaneous Malignancies and Genitourinary Staging Procedures
Brief Summary:
Patients with melanoma, some other rare skin cancers, and some cancers of the penis and scrotum can have their cancer spread to the lymph nodes in the upper part of the leg, called the groin. Medically, this area is called the inguinal area. At present, for melanomas and skin cancers this type of spread is usually found with a special test called a "sentinel lymph node biopsy". This procedure can find spread of even a few cells in a single lymph node—allowing the treating doctor to find the spread very early.
Treatment for patients with skin cancer in the lymph nodes in this area is to remove all of the lymph nodes in this area. In patients with cancers of the penis and scrotum who do hot have any evidence of cancer having spread either by physical examination or by radiology tests, the lymph nodes in this area are removed to check and see if there is cancer in them. This is called staging.
At present, the standard way to remove all of the lymph nodes in the groin is by a large incision, approximately 8-10 inches in length. For patients who have this operation, there is a very high incidence of infection after surgery: as many as 50% as patients can have a problem after surgery. These infections range from a low grade skin infection needing oral antibiotics to deep infections requiring the wound to be opened and occasionally needing readmission to the hospital and antibiotics given via the vein.
With the advent of new technology and new equipment, the ability to perform this procedure through small incisions away from the groin and further down the leg has become possible. This procedure has never been performed routinely nor compared side by side to the standard open approach. The investigators propose to perform this protocol in two phases.