Type II endometrial cancers with minimal, non-invasive residual disease on final pathology: What should we do next?

Abstract

There are minimal data regarding the management of high risk endometrial cancer histologies lacking invasive disease on the final pathology specimen. This study examines a cohort of these patients and assesses outcomes including time to recurrence and risk of death after management with and without adjuvant therapies. Endometrial cancer patients with minimal or no remaining invasive disease on final pathologic specimen from 1995 to 2010 were included. Surgical procedure was at the discretion of the operating physician. Electronic medical records were used to abstract relevant clinicopathologic data and standard statistical methods were employed. 70 patients met inclusion criteria, of which 26 were high grade histologies. Adjuvant therapies were given in 12 of 26 patients. 6/26 patients recurred, of which 50% were salvaged with therapy at time of recurrence. Overall deaths occurred in 3 of 26 patients in the high risk cohort. Less than half of the high risk cohort received adjuvant therapies after surgical management. No histologic type was found to increase risk of recurrence, and treatment with initial adjuvant therapy did not significantly reduce recurrence risk. Large scale prospective trials are needed to aid in management of this unique endometrial cancer population.

Keywords: Early stage endometrial cancer; Type II endometrial cancer.

Fig. 1

Time to Recurrence Based on Histology.