Lymphadenectomy in women with endometrial cancer: aspiration and reality from a radiation oncologist’s point of view

BACKGROUND: To investigate the meaning of lymphadenectomy (LNE) in women with endometrial cancer (EC) for clinical outcome and secondly to determine the impact of the method of adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) on survival as well as to define prognostic factors. METHODS: 322 patients (pts) underwent adjuvant RT for endometrioid EC at our department from 2004 until 2012 and were included in this retrospective study. Chi-square test, LogRank test and Cox regression were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Median age at diagnosis: 66 years. FIGO stages: FIGO I 69.4 %, FIGO II 15.3 %, FIGO III 14.5 %, FIGO IV 0.9 %. Surgical staging: 30.6 % pelvic/paraaortic LNE, 45 % sole pelvic LNE, 8.8 % sampling of suspicious lymph nodes, 15.6 % no LNE. Adjuvant chemotherapy (ChT): 3.2 %. Sole intravaginal brachytherapy (IVB): 60.2 %. IVB + external beam radiotherapy (EBRT): 39.8 %. 5-year local recurrence free survival (LRFS): 90.6 %, distant metastases free survival (DMFS): 89.8 %, overall survival (OS):79.3 %. In multivariate analysis age (p = .007), pT stage (p = .029), lymph node status (p = .003), grading (p = .011) and lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI; p = .008) remained as independent prognostic factors for OS. Resection status (p = .01) and LVSI (p = .014) were independent prognostic factors for LRFS and LVSI (p = .008) was the only independent prognostic factor for DMFS. There was no statistically significant survival benefit from LNE in LRFS (p = .561), DMFS (p = .981) or OS (p = .791). 5-year LRFS in stage I and II: 96.0 and 82.9 % after sole IVB, 90.8 and 81.6 % after combined IVB/EBRT (p = .105; p = .970). 5-year OS rates for stage I and II: 86.5 and 71.3 % after sole IVB, 84.2 % and 69.2 % after combined IVB/EBRT (p = .153; p = .619). CONCLUSION: Comprehensive surgical staging is rarely performed and may be omitted in women with endometrioid EC in stages I-II. Sole IVB delivers equally good local control as combined IVB/EBRT in pts with FIGO stage I and II disease. LVSI deserves more attention as a prognostic factor and these pts may require a combined local and systemic therapy.