Introduction/Background The appropriate operative method for patients with early-staged endometrial cancer remains controversial. The aim of the present study was to assess the recurrence rate of the vaginal stump after modified radical hysterectomy for patients with endometrial cancer.

Methodology Medical records of the patients with FIGO stages I, II, and III endometrial cancer treated with modified radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymph nodes dissection at Kumamoto University Hospital between 2006 and 2014 were analyzed retrospectively. The patients who had been histologically diagnosed with carcinosarcoma or sarcoma were excluded. The recurrence site, FIGO stage, and histological type were analyzed in patients with recurrent disease within 5 years after the initial treatment.

Results Two hundred-nine patients with endometrial cancer underwent modified radical hysterectomy during an observational period, and 22 patients (10.5%) had an initial relapse within 5 years. The sites of initial recurrence included the vaginal stump, the urinary bladder, the vaginal inlet, the perineum, the spleen, the adrenal gland, the pelvic and paraaortic lymph nodes, the lung, and the brain in 6 patients with stage I and 16 patients with stage 3. Although the recurrence of the vaginal stump was confirmed in 2 patients with stage III, there was no recurrence of the vaginal stump in 135 patients with stage I and 16 patients with stage II. The recurrence rate of the vaginal stump was 0.9% (2/209) in all patients including stages I, II, and III.

Conclusion Modified radical hysterectomy with sufficient resection margins of the vagina and the parametrium may decrease the postoperative recurrent rate of the vagina for patients with stage I and stage II endometrial cancer.

Disclosure Nothing to disclose.