A cohort study evaluating paraaortic lymphadenectomy in endometrial cancer

Abstract

The current study sought to assess the role of paraaortic lymphadenectomy (LNE) in females with endometrial cancer. A retrospective analysis of patients diagnosed with endometrial cancer of stage IA to II preoperatively, between 2009 and 2011 was conducted. Patients were included who had suffered from endometrial cancer without preoperative adjuvant therapy and who underwent hysterectomy plus systematic pelvic LNE and paraaortic LNE by laparoscopy or laparotomy. A total of 54 patients who underwent surgery for preoperative endometrial cancer were selected. All patients underwent LNE. The incidences of pelvic and paraaortic lymph node metastases were 11.1% (6/54) and 7.4% (4/54), with a total positive lymph node rate of 14.8% (8/54). In addition, among the 8 positive cases, 5 patients underwent laparotomy and 3 underwent laparoscopy; 3 cases were classified as stage I and 5 as stage II preoperatively. Of these, 7 patients were identified with pathology-related risk factors, including low differentiation or clear cell adenocarcinoma postoperatively. Discordance of pathological differentiation between the pre- and postoperative stages reached 57.1% (4/7). The results revealed the high occurrence of positive lymph nodes in endometrial cancer which demonstrate the importance of systematic LNE. Additonally, no severe complications were caused by LNE besides lymph cysts. In summary, it is neccesary to perform LNE, particularly the removal of the paraaortic lymph node, in patients with endometrial cancers in order to improve postoperative therapy. Laparoscopy has similar surgical effects as laparotomy, but has a number of advantages.