Table 1.
Characteristics of included studies
| Study | Year | Comparison | Country | Study type | Eligibility criteria | Total patients, n | LND arm, n | Non-LND arm, n | Follow-up time, months, median | Use of standardised LND template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azawi et al. [9] | 2017 | Robotic/lap RNU + LND vs Robotic/lap RNU – LND | Denmark | Retro. | Upper urinary TCC of clinical stage N0M0 who underwent laparoscopic or robotic NU preoperative cN0 with suspicious LN visualised during surgery (for eLND) | 277 | 46 | 231 | 43.5 | Yes |
| Cho et al. [10] | 2009 | RNU ± LND | South Korea | Retro. | Muscle-invasive upper urinary tract TCC who underwent open NU. No distant metastasis. No unresectable lesions. No concomitant invasive bladder cancer. No LN involvement suspected on preoperative imaging studies or operative findings |
152 | 89 | 63 | 53 | No |
| Ikeda et al. [11] | 2017 | RNU ± LND | Japan | Retro. | UTUC who underwent RNU with excision of the bladder cuff. Not received neoadjuvant chemotherapy |
399 | 222 | 177 | 43 | No |
| Inokuchi et al. [12] | 2017a | RNU ± limited/wider LND | Japan | Retro. | Clinically node negative primary UTUC who underwent RNU. No metastasis. No simultaneous bladder cancer. Complete TNM staging. No neoadjuvant chemotherapy. LN biopsy only. |
823 | 197 | 626 | 59.8 | No |
| Inokuchi et al. [13] | 2017b | RNU ± LND | Japan | Retro. | Unilateral non-metastatic UTUC who underwent RNU. No synchronous muscle invasive bladder cancer. No history of cystectomy or urinary diversion. |
2037 | 1046 | 844 | 45.8 | No |
| Kanno et al. [14] | 2017 | RPLND vs no RPLND | Japan | Retro. matched | Renal pelvis or upper/middle ureter tumours. Renal pelvic, upper ureteric or middle ureteric tumours. No lower ureteric tumours. |
64 | 32 | 32 | NR | Yes |
| Kondo et al., [15] Kondo et al. [16] Kondo et al. [17]a |
2007 2010 2017 |
RNU ± incomplete/complete LND | Japan | Retro. | Non-metastatic UTUC. Not received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. |
126 | 50 | 76 | NR | Yes |
| Kondo et al. [18] | 2014 | Open/lap NU ± LND | Japan | Prospect. | All patients irrespective of preoperative staging at the time of radical NU for UTUC. | 166 | 77 | 89 | NR | Yes |
| Miyake et al. [19] | 1998 | NU with bladder cuff resection for primary TCC ± LND | Japan | Retro. | NU with bladder cuff resection for UTUC. | 72 | 43 | 35 | 49 | Yes |
| Moschini et al. [5] | 2017 | RNU ± LND | Multinational | Retro. | Non-metastatic UTUC. Patients with complete clinical data. |
1512 | 545 | 967 | 48 | No |
| Pearce et al. [20] | 2015 | RNU ± LND | USA | Retro. | Primary diagnosis of renal pelvic or ureteric neoplasm. Adults and age available. No metastatic disease. |
16,619 | 14,059 | 2,560 | NR | No |
| Yoo et al. [21] | 2017 | RNU ± LND | South Korea | Retro. | UTUC who underwent RNU. No suspicion of distant metastasis and LN metastasis on preoperative imaging. |
418 | 132 | 186 | 69 (mean) | No |
eLND: extended LND; lap: laparoscopic; Prospect.: prospective; RNU: radical NU; Retro.: retrospective; RPLND, retroperitoneal pelvic LND; NR: Not reported.
aSame study with more than one report, the latest report was presented.