Use and outcomes of minimally invasive hysterectomy for women with nonendometrioid endometrial cancers

Abstract

Minimally invasive hysterectomy is now used routinely for women with uterine cancer. Most studies of minimally invasive surgery for endometrial cancer have focused on low-risk endometrioid tumors, with few reports of the safety of the procedure for women with higher risk histologic subtypes. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of and survival associated with minimally invasive hysterectomy for women with uterine cancer and high-risk histologic subtypes. We used the National Cancer Database to identify women with stages I-III uterine cancer who underwent hysterectomy from 2010-2014. Women with serous carcinomas, clear cell carcinomas, and sarcomas were examined. Women who had laparoscopic or robotic-assisted hysterectomy were compared with those who underwent open abdominal hysterectomy. After a propensity score inverse probability of treatment weighted analysis, the effect of minimally invasive hysterectomy on overall, 30-day, and 90-day mortality rates was examined for each histologic subtype of uterine cancer. Of 94,507 patients who were identified, 64,417 patients (68.2%) underwent minimally invasive hysterectomy. Among women with endometrioid tumors (n=81,115), 70.8% underwent minimally invasive hysterectomy. The rates of minimally invasive surgery in those women with nonendometrioid tumors (n=13,392) was 57.6% for serous carcinomas, 57.0% for clear cell tumors, 47.3% for sarcomas, 32.2% for leiomyosarcomas, 47.9% for stromal sarcomas, and 48.5% for carcinosarcomas. Performance of minimally invasive surgery increased across all histologic subtypes between 2010 and 2014. For nonendometrioid subtypes, robotic-assisted procedures accounted for 47.9-75.7% of minimally invasive hysterectomies by 2014. In a multivariable model, women with nonendometrioid tumors were less likely to undergo minimally invasive surgery than those with endometrioid tumors (P<.05). There was no association between route of surgery and 30-day, 90-day, or overall mortality rates for any of the nonendometrioid histologic subtypes. The use of minimally invasive surgery is increasing rapidly for women with stage I-III nonendometrioid uterine tumors. Performance of minimally invasive surgery does not appear to impact survival adversely.