Diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of uterine serous carcinoma

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of uterine serous carcinoma (USC), and further analyze the prognostic factors. Methods: USC patients who underwent surgery with complete follow-up at Cancer Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis were used for survival analysis. Results: (1) Diagnosis and treatment: the study included 71 USC patients. Only 32 patients (45%, 32/71) were diagnosed preoperatively with USC, and 25 cases of them (35%, 25/71) underwent USC standard comprehensive staging surgery. Of the 25 patients, 10 cases (40%, 10/25) had up-staged after operation. (2) Prognosis: the 5-year disease free survival (DFS) rate and overall survival (OS) rate for all patients were 76.5% and 80.6%, respectively. (3) The results of prognostic factors analysis: univariate analysis on age, range of lymphadenectomy, peritoneal cytology, the depth of myometrial invasion, adnexal and (or) serosa involvement and omentum metastasis were significantly associated with 5-year DFS rate (all P<0.05); range of lymphadenectomy, range of surgical staging, peritoneal cytology, adnexal and (or) serosa involvement and postoperative adjuvant treatment were significantly associated with 5-year OS rate (all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis on range of surgical staging (HR=5.18, 95%CI: 1.04-25.70, P=0.044) and adnexal and (or) serosa involvement (HR=8.41, 95%CI: 2.28-31.05, P=0.001) were independent prognostic factors for 5-year DFS rate; range of lymphadenectomy [no lymphadenectomy vs pelvic lymphadenectomy (PLN)+para-aortic lymphadenectomy (PALN), HR=27.76, 95%CI: 1.76-437.78, P=0.018;PLN vs PLN+PALN, HR=5.98, 95%CI: 1.11-32.27, P=0.038] and peritoneal cytology (HR=5.47, 95%CI: 1.18-25.39, P=0.030) were independent prognostic factors for 5-year OS rate. Conclusions: The preoperative pathological diagnosis of USC is difficult, resulting in incomplete surgical staging and inaccurate staging. Range of surgical staging, adnexal and (or) serosa involvement, peritoneal cytology and range of lymphadenectomy are independent prognostic factors, which deserve much attention in clinical practice.