Survival impact of cytoreduction to microscopic disease for advanced stage cancer of the uterine corpus: a retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Objective: To assess the impact of cytoreduction to no gross residual disease (R0) on overall survival (OS) in patients with stage III-IV uterine carcinosarcoma (CS), papillary serous/clear cell (UPSC/CC) and endometrioid carcinoma (EC).

Methods: We retrospectively identified 168 patients who underwent primary surgery for advanced uterine cancer between 1984 and 2009 in two teaching hospitals in Brooklyn, New York. Histology, stage, grade, residual disease (RD), adjuvant therapy, age, race and OS were collected. OS was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Predictive factors were compared using the log-rank test and Cox regression analysis.

Results: Our cohort included 54 patients with CS (stage III, n = 32; stage IV, n = 22), 54 patients with UPSC/CC (stage III, n = 20; stage IV, n = 34) and 60 patients with EC (stage III, n = 45; stage IV, n = 15). R0 was achieved in 64% of patients with CS, in 53% of patients with UPSC/CC and in 68% of patients with EC. There was no interaction between histologic subtype and feasibility of complete cytoreduction (p = 0.39). R0 was associated with a median OS of 25 months (95% CI [18, 33]) versus 13 months (95% CI [8, 18]) in patients with gross RD (p = 0.03). This effect was uniform among histologic subtypes. On multivariate analysis, predictors of increased mortality were gross residual disease (HR = 2.0, 95% CI [1.1, 3.7], p = 0.01), stage IV (HR = 1.8, 95% CI [1.1, 3.1], p = 0.02) and age (HR = 1.04 per year of age, 95% CI [1.02, 1.07], p = 0.002).

Conclusion: Cytoreductive surgery to R0 is associated with improved OS in advanced uterine cancer. This effect is uniform among histologies. There is no interaction between histologic subtype and feasibility of complete cytoreduction.

Keywords: Cancer; Debulking; Survival; Uterus.