Laparoscopic-assisted staging surgery for Korean women with endometrial cancer

Abstract

Background and objective: In recent years, the incidence of endometrial cancer has gradually increased in Korea, and the use of laparoscopically assisted staging surgery (LASS) is increasing in this field. We conducted this study to evaluate the feasibility of LASS in Korean women with endometrial cancer.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 35 Korean women with endometrial cancer who were managed laparoscopically.

Results: The median age and BMI were 57 years (range, 28 to 81) and 25.8 kg/m2 (range, 20.9 to 37.2), respectively. The median operating time, estimated blood loss, and length of hospital stay were, respectively, 150 minutes (range, 95 to 410), 250 mL (range, 50 to 1000), and 8 days (range, 3 to 20). No conversion to laparotomy was noted. The median number of harvested lymph nodes was 22 (range, 10 to 41) in pelvic lymph nodes and 7 (range, 2 to 21) in paraaortic lymph nodes. No vault recurrence or port-site metastasis was noted until the last follow-up.

Conclusions: LASS can be performed without additional morbidity and complications, and might be feasible in Korean women with endometrial cancer.

Figure 1.

An actual laparoscopic image after laparoscopic transperitoneal lymphadenectomy. A: (1) left external iliac artery, (2) left external iliac vein, (3) left obturator nerve, (4) left ureter. B: (1) right external iliac artery, (2) right external iliac vein, (3) right obturator nerve, (4) right ureter. C: (1) aorta, (2) inferior vena cava, (3) inferior mesenteric artery, (4) left renal vein, (5) right ovarian vein, and (6) left ovarian vein.