Abstract
Ninty-nine patients with cancer of the vulva were treated, 59 by vulvectomy alone, 30 by vulvectomy and bilateral superficial groin dissection. The 5-year survival rate of the patients treated by vulvectomy alone was 35.5% and of the patients treated by vulvectomy and node dissection was 60.0%. In 10 patients vulvectomy as followed by unilateral groin dissection at the side where lymph nodes were palpable; 5 of these patients, who were found to have no metastatic cancer, survived 5 years. The 99 cases were classified according to the staging suggested by Nolan; of the 30 patients who had lymph node surgery, the metastases were found only in the patients at stage 2 and 3. The 5-year survival rate of the patients at stage 1, treated by vulvectomy alone was 69.2% and of the patients at stage 3 was 14.8%. When the patients at stage 3 were treated by vulvectomy and bilateral groin dissection, the 5-year survival rate was 71.4%.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.