Prognostic factors and survival in 1396 patients with uterine leiomyosarcomas: emphasis on impact of lymphadenectomy and oophorectomy

Abstract

Background: The objectives of the current study were to determine the prognostic factors associated with disease-specific survival (DSS) and to analyze the role of lymphadenectomy (LND) and oophorectomy in the management of uterine leiomyosarcomas (LMS).

Methods: Data were abstracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (1988-2003). Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used for analyses.

Results: The median age of the 1396 patients was 52 years. There were 951 patients (68.1%) with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I disease, 43 patients (3.1%) with stage II disease, 99 patients (7.1%) with stage III disease, and 303 patients (21.7%) with stage IV disease. Distribution by tumor grade included 87 patients with grade 1 tumors, 208 with grade 2, and 509 patients with grade 3 tumors. The 5-year DSS rates for patients with stage I, II, III, and IV disease were 75.8%, 60.1%, 44.9%, and 28.7%, respectively. Lymph node metastases were identified in 23 of 348 patients (6.6%) who underwent LND. The 5-year DSS rate was 26% in patients who had positive lymph nodes compared with 64.2% in patients who had negative lymph nodes (P < .001). Of 341 patients aged <50 years with stage I or II disease, 240 (70.4%) underwent oophorectomy. There was no difference in 5-year DSS based on oophorectomy. On multivariate analysis, older age at diagnosis, more recent year of diagnosis, African-American race, higher tumor grade, higher stage of disease, and lack of primary surgical treatment all were associated significantly with worse survival.

Conclusions: Independent predictors of DSS in patients with uterine LMS included age, race, stage, grade, and primary surgery. Oophorectomy was not found to have an independent impact on survival.