Surgical treatment for neuroblastoma: complications during 15 years' experience.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Surgery plays an important role in neuroblastoma treatment. Although influence of resectability in survival has been studied deeply, reports about surgical complications are scant. The authors analyze retrospectively their experience in neuroblastomas (NB) diagnosed from 1980 to 1995.

METHODS: Clinical variables such as age, stage, location, presurgical chemotherapy, type, and extent of surgery were studied. Complications were classified according to the following criteria: time, type of surgery, and extent of resection.

RESULTS: Seventy-eight NB patients had surgery performed in our hospital. Mean age at diagnosis was 2.4 years (range, 0 to 11 years); 33 patients were under 1 year of age. Sixty-eight percent of the patients had advanced disease. Abdominal tumors were predominant. Sixty-three percent of the patients had chemotherapy before surgery, with shrinkage of the tumor in most of the cases (88%). Eighty-six surgical procedures were performed, 29 initially and 57 delayed. Complete resection was reached in 52 patients, partial in 19 patients, and seven patients underwent biopsy only. There were 42 surgical complications. Three of them were considered extremely serious (one death caused by cardiac arrest, one tumoral rupture, and one great vessel injury). Nephrectomies (n = 12) were the most frequent intraoperatory complications. Bernard-Horner syndrome (n = 5) and pleural effusions (n = 5) predominated in the postoperative period.

CONCLUSIONS: (1) Surgery in NB can be performed safely. (2) Nephrectomies can be necessary to achieve complete resection in some abdominal tumors. (3) Nephrectomies, Bernard-Horner syndrome, and pleural effusions were the most frequent complications in our patients. (4) Presurgical chemotherapy can lead to a wider and safer removal of locally advanced tumors.