Clinical implications of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in advanced endometrial cancer: a multi-center retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: The mainstay of endometrial cancer treatment is surgical resection of tumors and postoperative adjuvant treatment is recommended if necessary. However, there is no consensus on the management of unresectable metastatic endometrial cancer. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery (NAC-IDS) in unresectable, metastatic endometrial cancer. METHODS: From the endometrial cancer cohorts of four institutions in Korea, we identified patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stages IIIC–IVB endometrial cancer who received NAC-IDS between January 2008 and December 2020. Through a medical record review, we collected patients’ clinicopathological data. Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and the factors affecting survival outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: Overall, 32 patients were included with endometrioid (n = 18), serous (n = 5), carcinosarcoma (n = 6), and other histological types (n = 3). Among them, 28 (87.5%) patients had stage IVB disease. The most common neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) regimen was paclitaxel-carboplatin (n = 25, 78.1%), which was administered for a median of six cycles. While 26 (81.3%) patients showed an objective response, two (6.3%) progressed despite NAC. At the time of interval debulking surgery (IDS), 23 (71.9%) patients achieved complete cytoreduction. During 31.0 months of the median follow-up, there were 23 recurrences and 11 deaths, corresponding to a median PFS of 19.7 months and a 3-year OS rate of 69.7%. In multivariate analyses, non-endometrioid histology and residual tumor after IDS were identified as independent poor prognostic factors for PFS (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 7.322; P < 0.001 and 5.934; P = 0.001, respectively). Multivariate analysis for OS could not be conducted because of the small number of events, although non-endometrioid histology was the only factor associated with worse OS in univariate analysis (adjusted HR, 4.523; P = 0.032). CONCLUSIONS: NAC-IDS may be a treatment option for unresectable metastatic endometrial cancer. Tumor histology and the possibility of complete cytoreduction are the primary considerations for NAC-IDS. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09746-3.