Prognostic factors and survival of patients with uterine sarcoma: a German unicenter analysis

PURPOSE: Uterine sarcoma (US) as a histologically heterogeneous group of tumors is rare and associated with poor prognosis. Prognostic factors based on systematic data collection need to be identified to optimize patients’ treatment. METHODS: This unicenter, retrospective cohort study includes 57 patients treated at the University Hospital Freiburg, Germany between 1999 and 2017. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated and visualized in Kaplan–Meier curves. Prognostic factors were identified using log-rank test and Cox regression. RESULTS: 44 Leiomyosarcoma (LMS), 7 low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma (LG-ESS), 4 high-grade ESS and 2 undifferentiated US patients were identified. The median age at time of diagnosis was 51.0 years (range 18–83). The median follow-up time was 35 months. PFS for the total cohort was 14.0 (95%-Confidence-Interval (CI) 9.7–18.3) and OS 36.0 months (95%-CI 22.1–49.9). Tumor pathology was prognostically significant for OS with LG-ESS being the most favorable (mean OS 150.3 months). In the multivariate analysis, patients over 52 years showed a four times higher risk for tumor recurrence (hazard ratio (HR) 4.4; 95%-CI 1.5–12.9). Progesterone receptor negativity was associated with a two times higher risk for death (HR 2.8; 95%-CI 1.0–7.5). For LMS patients age ≥ 52 years (p = 0.04), clear surgical margins (p = 0.01), FIGO stage (p = 0.01) and no application of chemotherapy (p = 0.02) were statistically significant factors for OS. CONCLUSION: Tumor histology, age at time of diagnosis and progesterone receptor status were prognostic factors for US. Unfavorable OS in LMS patients was associated with advanced FIGO stage, suboptimal cytoreduction and application of chemotherapy.