Impact of time interval between radical hysterectomy with pelvic node dissection and initial adjuvant therapy on oncological outcomes of early stage cervical cancer

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of time interval (TI) from radical hysterectomy with pelvic node dissection (RHND) to adjuvant therapy on oncological outcomes in cervical cancer. METHODS: The study included 110 stage IA2–IB1 cervical cancer patients who underwent RHND and adjuvant therapy. The patients were divided into 2 groups based on the cut-off points of TI of 4 and 6 weeks, respectively. The associations of TI and clinicopathologic factors with oncological outcomes were evaluated using Cox proportional-hazards regression. RESULTS: The median TI was 4.5 weeks. There were no statistical differences in 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) (89.2% vs. 81.0%, and 83.2% vs. 100.0%) or 5-year overall survival (OS) rates (90.9% vs. 97.2%, and 93.2% vs. 100.0%) between patients according to TI (≤4 vs. >4, and ≤6 vs. >6 weeks, respectively). Deep stromal invasion (p=0.037), and parametrial involvement (PI) (p=0.002) were identified as independent prognostic factors for RFS, together with the interaction between TI and squamous cell carcinoma histology (p<0.001). In patients with squamous cell carcinoma, a TI longer than 4 weeks was significantly associated with a worse RFS (hazard ratio [HR]=15.8; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.4–173.9; p=0.024). Univariate analysis showed that only tumor size (p=0.023), and PI (p=0.003) were significantly associated with OS. CONCLUSION: Delay in administering adjuvant therapy more than 4 weeks after RHND in early stage squamous cell cervical cancer results in poorer RFS.