Elsevier

Gynecologic Oncology

Volume 57, Issue 3, June 1995, Pages 327-334
Gynecologic Oncology

Regular Article
The Importance of the Groin Node Status for the Survival of T1 and T2 Vulval Carcinoma Patients

https://doi.org/10.1006/gyno.1995.1151Get rights and content

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze (1) the prognostic factors for survival of T1 and T2 carcinoma patients and (2) the impact of the initial groin node status for the time to recurrence and site of recurrence. We performed a follow-up study on 190 women with a T1 or T2 squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva. Data were obtained on age and general medical condition, the clinical and histological characteristics of the primary tumor and the inguinofemoral lymph nodes, treatment, recurrences, and survival. The standard treatment was radical vulvectomy with bilateral inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy supplemented with postoperative radiotherapy to the primary site, groin, and pelvic side walls if groin metastases were present. Compared to patients without lymph node metastases in the groin, the relative risk of dying within a given time period was estimated to be 2.47 (limits of the 95% confidence interval: 1.24, 4.93) and 9.69 (3.90, 24.03) for patients with unilateral and bilateral node metastases, respectively. The number of metastatic lymph nodes or their intra- or extranodal growth was not associated with survival. The relative risk of dying within a given time period was 2.71 (1.36, 5.40) for patients with a T2 tumor compared to those with a T1 tumor and 2.37 (1.31, 4.31) for patients with vasoinvasive growth compared to those without capillary-lymphatic tumor infiltration. Tumor thickness, differentiation grade, and multifocal growth did not determine survival. In the multivariate Cox regression analysis, the presence of inguinofemoral lymph node metastases proved to be the most important prognostic factor for patients' survival. Of the 119 patients who underwent lymphadenectomy but in whom no groin node metastases were found, 6 (5%) patients manifested an early recurrence (i.e., residual cancer or a recurrence within 2 years after the diagnosis). In contrast, of the 51 patients with histologically documented groin node metastases, 15 (29.4%) manifested an early recurrence and these recurrences appeared equally distributed over the primary site and other sites. Only 1 of the 51 women with documented inguinofemoral lymph node metastases presented with the first manifestation of recurrent cancer in the groin. Groin node metastases did not increase the risk for late recurrences. The presence of inguinofemoral lymph node metastases (none/unilateral/bilateral) is the most important predictor of failure to survive. Groin node metastases are associated with early recurrences which seldomly manifest primarily in the groin if it is hospital policy to supplement the surgical excision with adjunctive radiotherapy.

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