Video endoscopic-assisted inguino-femoral lymphadenectomy (VEIL) in squamous cell invasive vulvar carcinoma: our initial experience

Abstract

Inguinal lymphadenectomy is a part of the surgical treatment of invasive perineal cancers and lower extremities and inferior trunk melanomas. Inguinal node metastasis represents a major prognostic factor; therefore, inguinal lymphadenectomy has a central role in oncological patient management. Nevertheless, inguinal node dissection is associated with significant morbidity such as lymphedema, wound dehiscence, flap necrosis, infection, seroma, femoral hernia, and deep venous thromboembolism. Recently, several publications have reported experiences with video endoscopicassisted techniques attempting to reduce the high morbidity related to open inguinal lymphadenectomy. The primary results are promising in terms of feasibility, oncological survey and goals, postoperative complications, and esthetic results. We discuss here our initial experience with video endoscopic inguino-femoral lymphadenectomy (VEIL) in a patient with invasive vulvar carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a bilateral VEIL in vulvar carcinoma.

Feasibility and Safety of Video Endoscopic Inguinal Lymphadenectomy in Vulvar Cancer: A Systematic Review

“…After careful selection, 31 publications were selected for the analysis. Of these, 3 were excluded because they investigated nursing interventions, 5 were excluded because they were case reports [ 22 – 26 ], 9 were excluded because they lacked available information regarding VEIL in vulvar cancer patients, and 6 were excluded because they were duplicated published articles. A total of 9 eligible studies [ 27 – 35 ] with 249 VEIL procedures in 138 patients were included in the final review.…”