Objective The objective of this study was to verify the feasibility of laparoscopic hysterectomy in patients with stage IA1 cervical cancer.

Methods This retrospective study was carried out using data for 103 patients with stage IA1 cervical cancer at Hokkaido Cancer Center from January 2000 to December 2016. Study outcomes including operation time, estimated blood loss, blood transfusion, recurrence, and survival were compared between conization group (n=36) and hysterectomy group (n=67). Among patients in the hysterectomy group, those outcomes were compared between non-laparoscopic hysterectomy group (n=31) and laparoscopic hysterectomy group (n=36).

Results In the present study, there was only one patient with cancer recurrence who underwent cervical conization. The rate of cases of cancer recurrence in the conization group tended to be higher than in the hysterectomy group (2.8% vs. 0%, P=0.18). Estimated blood loss in the laparoscopic hysterectomy group was significantly less than in the non-laparoscopic group (213 g vs. 46.5 g, P=0.0017). The rate of patients who received blood transfusion in the laparoscopic hysterectomy group tended to be higher than in the non-laparoscopic group (9.7% vs. 0%, P=0.056).

Conclusion It is highly possible that laparoscopic hysterectomy is a safe operative procedure in stage IA1 cervical cancer when performed by experienced surgeons in tertiary centers.