TY - JOUR T1 - The role of vaginal hysterectomy in the treatment of endometrial carcinoma JF - International Journal of Gynecologic Cancer JO - Int J Gynecol Cancer SP - 342 LP - 347 DO - 10.1046/j.1525-1438.1994.04050342.x VL - 4 IS - 5 AU - R. J. LellÉ AU - G. W. Morley AU - W. A. Peters Y1 - 1994/08/01 UR - http://ijgc.bmj.com/content/4/5/342.abstract N2 - Between 1964 and 1991, vaginal hysterectomy was performed in 60 patients with clinical stage I endometrial carcinoma, who were not considered candidates for the conventional surgical approach. Of these patients, 66.7% were obese with a median weight of 235 pounds. Other risk factors included hypertension (63%), diabetes mellitus (34%), cardiac disease (28%) and pulmonary disease (12%). Operative mortality was 0%. The complication rate was 14%, with four patients requiring transfusions and four patients developing vaginal cuff cellulitis. Forty per cent of patients received adjuvant pre- or postoperative radiation therapy. Crude survival at 5 and 10 years was 91.1% and 87.1%, respectively. However, only one patient died from disease 6 years after primary treatment. Although we consider surgical staging as the standard of care for the treatment of endometrial cancer, vaginal hysterectomy has a definite place in the management of patients with good prognostic criteria who are at high operative risk for the standard surgical approach. ER -