Article Text
Abstract
Background Historically, radical hysterectomy followed by adjuvant radiotherapy has been offered to patients with endometrial cancer who have gross cervical involvement; however, this approach is known to carry considerable morbidity. Neoadjuvant radiotherapy followed by extra-fascial hysterectomy has been proposed as an alternative treatment but has been poorly studied to date.
Objective To evaluate the locoregional control rate associated with neoadjuvant radiotherapy followed by extra-fascial hysterectomy.
Methods A retrospective cohort study of 30 patients with endometrial cancer with gross cervical involvement treated between May 2006 and January 2016 was performed. Eligible patients were those aged >18 years with non-metastatic endometrial adenocarcinoma and gross cervical disease treated with curative intent at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Treatment protocol consisted of pelvic neoadjuvant radiotherapy and high-dose rate brachytherapy followed by extra-fascial hysterectomy. Kaplan-Meier curves were used for survival analysis.
Results The median age was 60 (range 37–82) and median body mass index was 32 kg/m2 (range 16–55). Twenty-four (80%) patients were diagnosed with a positive cervical/endocervical biopsy. Clinical staging confirmed 36.7% (n=11) as stage II, 20% (n=6) stage IIIB, 30% (n=9) stage IIIC1, and 13.3% (n=4) stage IIIC2. Seventy-seven per cent (n=23) of patients had an endometrioid histology. Locally advanced disease was identified by imaging alone in six patients. Rates of parametrial, adnexal, vaginal, and nodal invasion were 10% (n=3), 6.7% (n=2), 13.3% (n=4), and 43.3% (n=13) at diagnosis, respectively. All patients completed pelvic radiotherapy (13.3% extended field) and 90% received brachytherapy. Twenty per cent (n=6) of surgeries were performed using minimal invasive technique. On surgical specimen, 63.3% (n=19) had complete cervical response, 90% (n=27) had negative margins, and 10% (n=3) had residual nodal involvement. Median follow-up time was 62 months (range 1–120). Six recurrences were identified; all except one involved distant failure, and two with locoregional failure. Five-year locoregional control rate, disease-free, overall, and disease-specific survival were 90.5%, 78.5%, 92.6%, and 96.2%, respectively. Two patients (6.7%) had grade 3+ acute radiation-related complications (all grade 3). Grade 3+ post-operative morbidity was noted in 2 (6.7%) patients.
Conclusions Neoadjuvant radiotherapy followed by extra-fascial hysterectomy offers good locoregional control with low treatment-related morbidity in patients with endometrial cancer with overt cervical involvement.
- endometrium
- postoperative complications
- radiotherapy
- intensity-modulated
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Footnotes
Presented at This work has been presented as a conference abstract at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada, and the Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology annual general meetings.
Contributors MNB: Conceptualization, methodology, data acquisition, data analysis, original draft writing and review. VS: Conceptualization, methodology, data acquisition, data interpretation, review/editing. YD, BC, M-CB: Conceptualization, review/editing. MB: Conceptualization, methodology, data interpretation, writing/review/editing, supervision. Kip Brown: Statistical analysis.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request. In accordance with the journal’s guidelines, we will provide our data (deidentified participant data) for the reproducibility of this study in other centers if such is requested with the permission of Dr Maroie Barkati and Dr Vanessa Samouëlian, on behalf of the CHIRENDO study group.