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Clinicopathological Features of Early and Late Recurrence of Endometrial Carcinoma After Surgical Resection
  1. Akimasa Takahashi, MD, PhD,
  2. Motoki Matsuura, MD, PhD,
  3. Maki Matoda, MD,
  4. Hidetaka Nomura, MD, PhD,
  5. Sanshiro Okamoto, MD, PhD,
  6. Hiroyuki Kanao, MD, PhD,
  7. Eiji Kondo, MD, PhD,
  8. Kohei Omatsu, MD, PhD,
  9. Kazuyoshi Kato, MD, PhD,
  10. Kuniko Utsugi, MD, PhD and
  11. Nobuhiro Takeshima, MD, PhD
  1. Department of Gynecology, Cancer Institute Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
  1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Akimasa Takahashi, MD, PhD, Department of Gynecology, Cancer Institute Hospital, 3-8-31 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-8550, Japan. E-mail: akimasat2009@gmail.com.

Abstract

Objectives The incidence of endometrial carcinoma has been increasing annually in developed nations; it is currently the second most common gynecological malignancy. Although the majority of patients are diagnosed at an early stage, 15% to 20% reportedly recur; consequently, patients are usually followed clinically for 3 years after the initial curative surgery. We therefore aimed to determine the incidence and clinicopathological features of early and late recurrences of endometrial carcinoma after surgical resection.

Materials and Methods This retrospective study was performed using the clinical records of 2233 patients who underwent surgical resection for endometrial carcinoma between January 1970 and December 2009 at a single cancer center. Tumor recurrences were classified as early (<5 years) and late (>5 years) after initial surgery. Clinicopathological variables and tumor recurrence patterns were compared between the early and late recurrence groups. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results Among 2233 study patients, 255 (11.4%) experienced endometrial carcinoma recurrence; of these, early and late recurrences occurred in 232 (91.0%) and 23 (9.0%) patients, respectively. Late recurrence was associated with invasion of less than half of the myometrium at diagnosis and the presence of histopathological features of endometrioid adenocarcinoma with low- or intermediate-grade histological subtype and absence of lymphovascular invasion. After recurrence, there was no significant difference in overall survival between the early and late recurrence groups (P = 0.437). Furthermore, surgical treatment was associated with a significantly improved prognosis in the late recurrence group (P = 0.044).

Conclusions The findings of this study indicated that patients who initially underwent successful treatment for low-grade and early-stage endometrial carcinoma should be followed clinically for more than 5 years. In cases of late recurrence, surgical management may improve prognosis.

  • Early stage
  • Endometrial carcinoma
  • Histological grade
  • Local recurrence
  • Metastasis
  • Prognosis

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Footnotes

  • The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

  • Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citation appears in the printed text and is provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s Web site (www.ijgc.net).