Daniel S. Kapp

To compare the survival of women with uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC) and clear cell carcinoma (CC) to those with grade 3 endometrioid uterine carcinoma (G3EC). Demographic, pathologic, treatment, and survival information were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program from 1988 to 2001. Data were analysed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression methods. Of 4180 women, 1473 had UPSC, 391 had CC, and 2316 had G3EC cancers. Uterine papillary serous carcinoma and CC patients were older (median age: 70 years and 68 vs 66 years, respectively; P<0.0001) and more likely to be black compared to G3EC (15 and 12% vs 7%; P<0.0001). A higher proportion of UPSC and CC patients had stage III-IV disease compared to G3EC patients (52 and 36% vs 29%; P<0.0001). Uterine papillary serous carcinoma, CC and G3EC patients represent 10, 3, and 15% of endometrial cancers but account for 39, 8, and 27% of cancer deaths, respectively. The 5-year disease-specific survivals for women with UPSC, CC and G3EC were 55, 68, and 77%, respectively (P<0.0001). The survival differences between UPSC, CC and G3EC persist after controlling for stage I-II (74, 82, and 86%; P<0.0001) and stage III-IV disease (33, 40, and 54; P<0.0001). On multivariate analysis, more favourable histology (G3EC), younger age, and earlier stage were independent predictors of improved survival. Women with UPSC and CC of the uterus have a significantly poorer prognosis compared to those with G3EC. These findings should be considered in the counselling, treating and designing of future trials for these high-risk patients.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the current study was to determine the potential therapeutic role of lymphadenectomy in women with endometrioid corpus cancer. METHODS: Demographic and clinicopathologic information were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program between 1988-2001. Data were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox proportional hazards regression. RESULTS: In all, 12,333 women (median age, 64) underwent surgical staging with lymph node assessment, including 9,009, 1,211, 1,223, and 890 with Stage I-IV disease. Over the time intervals 1988-1992, 1993-1997, and 1998-2001, the percentage of patients undergoing lymph node staging increased from 22.6%, 29.6%, to 40.9% (P < .001). In the intermediate/high-risk patients (Stage IB, Grade 3; Stage IC and II-IV, all grades), a more extensive lymph node resection (1, 2-5, 6-10, 11-20, and >20) was associated with improved 5-year disease-specific survivals across all 5 groups at 75.3%, 81.5%, 84.1%, 85.3%, and 86.8%, respectively (P < .001). For Stage IIIC-IV patients with nodal disease, the extent of node resection significantly improved the survival from 51.0%, 53.0%, 53.0%, 60.0%, to 72.0%, (P < .001). However, no significant benefit of lymph node resection in low-risk patients could be demonstrated (Stage IA, all grades; Stage IB, Grades 1 and 2 disease; P = .23). In multivariate analysis, a more extensive node resection remained a significant prognostic factor for improved survival in intermediate/high-risk patients after adjusting for other factors including age, year of diagnosis, stage, grade, adjuvant radiotherapy, and the presence of positive nodes (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the current study suggest that the extent of lymph node resection improves the survival of women with intermediate/high-risk endometrioid uterine cancer.

BACKGROUND: The objectives of the current study were to determine the prognostic factors associated with disease-specific survival (DSS) and to analyze the role of lymphadenectomy (LND) and oophorectomy in the management of uterine leiomyosarcomas (LMS). METHODS: Data were abstracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (1988-2003). Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used for analyses. RESULTS: The median age of the 1396 patients was 52 years. There were 951 patients (68.1%) with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I disease, 43 patients (3.1%) with stage II disease, 99 patients (7.1%) with stage III disease, and 303 patients (21.7%) with stage IV disease. Distribution by tumor grade included 87 patients with grade 1 tumors, 208 with grade 2, and 509 patients with grade 3 tumors. The 5-year DSS rates for patients with stage I, II, III, and IV disease were 75.8%, 60.1%, 44.9%, and 28.7%, respectively. Lymph node metastases were identified in 23 of 348 patients (6.6%) who underwent LND. The 5-year DSS rate was 26% in patients who had positive lymph nodes compared with 64.2% in patients who had negative lymph nodes (P < .001). Of 341 patients aged <50 years with stage I or II disease, 240 (70.4%) underwent oophorectomy. There was no difference in 5-year DSS based on oophorectomy. On multivariate analysis, older age at diagnosis, more recent year of diagnosis, African-American race, higher tumor grade, higher stage of disease, and lack of primary surgical treatment all were associated significantly with worse survival. CONCLUSIONS: Independent predictors of DSS in patients with uterine LMS included age, race, stage, grade, and primary surgery. Oophorectomy was not found to have an independent impact on survival.