Preoperative cervical cytology as a prognostic factor in endometrioid-type endometrial cancer: A single-center experience from Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were (1) to estimate the frequency of preoperative abnormal cervical cytology (CC), (2) to explore correlations between preoperative CC and specific clinicopathological prognostic factors (tumor stage, endometrioid grade, myometrial invasion, lymphovascular space involvement, cervical involvement, and recurrence), and (3) to examine the impact of preoperative CC on disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in Saudi patients with endometrioid-type endometrial cancer (EC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. The study’s inclusion criteria included: (1) patients who underwent staging operation for EC from 2010–2014, (2) patients who had preoperative CC results within 3 months before staging operation, and (3) patients with final histopathological diagnosis of endometrioid-type EC. RESULTS: Hundred and sixteen patients (n = 116) met the study’s inclusion criteria. CC results were abnormal in 46 patients (39.7%). Patients with abnormal CC had statistically significant higher rates of unfavorable Grades II–III tumor and cervical involvement than patients with normal CC (P = 0.004, chi-square test). There were no statistically significant differences (log-rank test) between patients with normal and abnormal CC with regard to DFS (P = 0.525) and OS (P = 0.166). Multivariate analyses of DFS and OS (Cox proportional hazards model) failed to show preoperative CC as a significant independent prognostic factor of DFS and OS (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The frequency of abnormal preoperative CC in patients with endometrioid-type EC is not uncommon. Abnormal CC correlates with poor prognostic factors, namely high tumor grade and cervical involvement. Preoperative CC is not a significant independent prognostic factor of survival.