Prognostic Value of Pelvic Lymphadenectomy in Surgical Treatment of Apparent Stage I Endometrial Cancer

Abstract

Background: The role of pelvic lymphadenectomy in early endometrial carcinoma is still being debated. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a total of 131 patients with FIGO stage I endometrial cancer undergoing surgery without (Group 1) or with (Group 2) pelvic lymphadenectomy. Kaplan-Meier and Cox analyses were used to calculate crude and adjusted survival rates. Moreover, the overlap of pre- and post-surgical staging was analyzed. Results: Overall survival rate at 5 years was 90.1%. The difference in crude survival rates of the two groups is not statistically significant (p-value= 0.3777, log rank test). Five patients of Group 2 presented positive pelvic nodes. Therefore our results showed a pre-surgical understaging, referring to nodal involvement, in 9.1% of cases (5/55). Conclusion: Pelvic lymphadenectomy is a useful procedure for prognostic and staging purposes, but does not improve survival in FIGO stage I endometrial carcinoma.