Assessing the effects of lymphadenectomy and radiation therapy in patients with uterine carcinosarcoma: a SEER analysis

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this analysis is to determine the pathologic prognostic factors and treatment outcome of patients with carcinosarcoma of the uterus.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program of the National Cancer Institute between January 1, 1988 and November 1, 2003 was conducted. A total of 1855 with AJCC Stages I-III disease were identified who received primary surgical treatment. Overall survival curves were constructed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify factors predictive of overall survival.

Results: AJCC stage of all patients was as follows: 65% Stage I (n=1099), 14% Stage II (n=245), 21% Stage III (n=353). 57% (n=965) patients underwent LND. The median number of lymph nodes removed was 12 (SD=10.2); 119 (14%) patients had positive lymph nodes. Five-year overall survival (OS), disease free survival, and median survival were significantly improved for patients receiving lymph node dissection (LND) as compared to patients that received no LND, irrespective of radiotherapy. Adjuvant radiation therapy had no improvement on overall survival regardless of LND. There was no overall survival benefit to the addition of radiotherapy regardless of whether patients underwent a lymph node dissection or not. Age, race, marital status, lymph node dissection and stage were predictive of survival on multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: Lymphadenectomy is significantly associated with improved overall survival in patients with Stage I-III uterine carcinosarcoma compared to no lymphadenectomy. The use of adjuvant radiotherapy conferred no overall survival benefit.