Treatment Of Recurrent Endometrial Carcinoma Research Articles

Lenvatinib Plus Pembrolizumab for Advanced Endometrial Cancer

(Abstracted from N Engl J Med 2022;386:437–448) Little consensus exists on optimal treatment for advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer after disease progression with platinum-based chemotherapy. Lenvatinib is a multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor that as a single agent has demonstrated limited efficacy as second-line treatment of recurrent endometrial carcinoma.

Cytoreductive Surgery With Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Recurrent Endometrial Carcinoma Confined to the Peritoneal Cavity

Our objective was to determine if cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is a feasible therapeutic option for treatment of peritoneal recurrence of endometrial carcinoma. Between August 2002 and May 2007, 5 patients with recurrent endometrial carcinoma confined to the peritoneal cavity who underwent CRS with HIPEC. Cisplatin (1 mg/kg) and mitomycin C (0.7 mg/kg) were perfused at an inflow temperature of 46 to 48-C for 90 minutes under systemic hypothermia (32 °C). Of the 5 patients treated, histopathological type and International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage were as follows: IB endometrioid (n = 1), IIIA endometrioid (n = 1), IIIC endometrioid (n = 2), and IC endometrioid + pseudosarcomatoid component (n = 1). The mean interval from initial surgery to CRS with HIPEC was 47.5 months (10-120 months). In all patients, CRS was complete. One patient with pseudosarcomatoid component developed recurrent disease 10 months after surgery and died 2 months later. One patient experienced early recurrence with a malignant pleural effusion and died. Three patients are alive and disease free at 7, 23, and 39 months from surgery with good performance status. Regarding the toxicity of the procedure, highly selected patients with recurrent endometrial carcinoma confined to the peritoneal cavity may benefit from improved survival after CRS with HIPEC.

Surgical treatment of recurrent endometrial carcinoma.

Surgery does not have a definite role in the treatment of patients with recurrent endometrial carcinoma, except for those with central pelvic recurrences. The authors describe their experience with surgery in patients with abdominal endometrial recurrences. Between 1988 and 2000, 75 patients with abdominal and pelvic endometrial recurrences underwent secondary rescue surgery. Patients were classified according to the presence or absence of residual tumor after surgery. Therapy after rescue surgery was undertaken at the discretion of the medical oncologist. The progression-free interval and overall survival were defined as the time from secondary rescue surgery to the specific event and were evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to compare survival with covariates. Fifty-six patients (74.7%) underwent optimal debulking. Major surgical complications were observed in 23 patients (30.7%). Only 1 postoperative death was observed, although the mortality rate for surgical complications after the postoperative period was 8%. Patients who underwent optimal debulking had a significantly better cumulative survival rate compared with patients who had residual disease (36% vs. 0% at 60 months; P < 0.05). Residual disease, chemotherapy after rescue surgery, and central pelvis-vagina as the only site of recurrence were associated significantly with survival. The authors found that this approach was very challenging in terms of the procedures involved, the incidence of major surgical complications, and the high mortality rate. It was useful in increasing overall survival, provided that patients were free of macroscopic disease. Careful selection of patients is needed to minimize mortality.

Recurrent adenocarcinoma of the endometrium: A clinical and histopathological study of 379 patients

Three hundred and seventy-nine patients with recurrent endometrial cancer were seen in the Norwegian Radium Hospital from 1960 to 1976. Local recurrence was found in 190 patients (50%), distant metastases in 108 patients (28%), and in 81 patients (21%) local recurrence and distant metastases were found simultaneously. Thirty-two percent of all patients had no symptoms at the time of diagnosis of the recurrence. The median time interval between primary treatment and detection of recurrence was 14 months for patients with local recurrence and 19 months for those with distant metastases. Thirty-four percent of all recurrences was detected within 1 year and 76% within three years of primary treatment. In 10% recurrence was diagnosed more than 5 years after primary treatment. Twenty-two of the 190 patients (12%) with local recurrence, 5 of the 108 patients (5%) with distant metastases, and 2 of the 81 patients (2%) with local recurrence together with distant metastases survived and were without evidence of disease at the end of the observation period (3–19 years). Radiotherapy alone or in combination with surgery was given in 24 of the 29 “cured” patients; 16 of them received progestagens in addition. Three of the survivors were treated with progestagens alone. The median survival time for patients with lung metastases only, who were treated with progestagens, was considerably longer when compared to those without treatment (9 vs 2 months). The need for nonhormonal cytotoxic chemotherapy in the treatment of recurrent endometrial carcinoma is stressed.

Progestogen treatment of recurrent endometrial carcinoma

Our experience with treatment of metastatic carcinoma of the endometrium with 17α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (Delalutin), 6-methyl-17α-hydroxyprogesterone acetate (Depo-Provera), and 6,17-dimethyl-6-dehydroprogesterone (Colprone) revealed an objective response rate of 25 per cent, 24 per cent, and 23 per cent, respectively. Side effects were minimal. Patients who appeared to attain the best objective remissions were those who had recurrences 3 years or more after initial therapy, those who had low-grade lesions, and those who had pulmonary metastases.