The 10-year results after national introduction of pelvic lymph node staging in Danish intermediate-risk endometrial cancer patients not given postoperative radiotherapy

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

The 10-year results after national introduction of pelvic lymph node staging in Danish intermediate-risk endometrial cancer patients not given postoperative radiotherapy. Gitte Ørtoft; Claus Høgdall; Estrid S Hansen; Margit Dueholm. Objective: To prepare for the national introduction of sentinel node staging, we evaluated the consequences of the previous national decision to introduce lymph node staging in intermediate-risk endometrial cancer patients (grade 1/2 with > 50% or grade 3 with < 50% myometrial invasion) by determining the number of patients upstaged by lymphadenectomy and whether upstaging affected the survival and recurrence patterns of non-staged patients and patients with and without lymph node metastases. Study Design: In a national cohort study, 2005–12, 1294 stage I–IV patients who should have been offered lymphadenectomy were progressively registered. The number of patients upstaged by lymphadenectomy, 10-year survivals were evaluated by Kaplan–Meier analysis and adjusted Cox regression. Results: This study demonstrates that it takes time to introduce lymphadenectomy at a national level, as indicated by the increasing number of cases staged per year, from 12% in 2005 to 74% in 2012. Pelvic lymphadenectomy was performed in 43.8% (567/1294) and lymph node metastases were found in 13.6% (77/567). As 54 patients had further dissemination outside the uterine body, only 23 patients (6%) were upstaged from stage I to IIIC. Compared to lymph node-negative patients, the 77 patients with lymph node metastasis had significantly lower overall, (55% versus 68%), disease-specific (64% versus 86%), and progression-free survival (51% versus 77%), mainly due to non-local recurrences including a high number of paraaortic recurrences. In 873 final stage I intermediate-risk patients, 10-year survival and recurrence rates were not significantly lower in non-staged as compared to lymph node-negative patients (overall survival 62% versus 70%: disease-specific survival: 90% versus 90%, progression-free survival: 81% vs 83%), probably due to the low number of patients upstaged from stage I to stage IIIC. Conclusion: Lymph node metastases were present in 13.6% of patients with intermediate-risk who underwent pelvic lympadenectomy, and these patients had a lower 10-year survival than lymph node-negative patients. Because lymphadenectomy upstaged only 6% from stage I to stage IIIC, survival and recurrence rates were not significantly compromised in non-staged as compared to lymph node-negative intermediate-risk stage I patients. Sentinel node staging has now been implemented in Danish intermediate-risk endometrial cancer patients.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftEuropean Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
Vol/bind263
Sider (fra-til)239-246
Antal sider8
ISSN0301-2115
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2021

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge all the doctors, nurses, and secretaries in the Danish departments of gynecology, pathology, oncology, and radiology for the time and effort they spent constantly keeping the database up to date and answering all our requests for data. They represent the foundation for all Danish DGCD studies. We furthermore acknowledge the hard work of the secretary of the DGCD, and we thank Edwin Stanton Spencer for linguistic corrections. Funding: The study was financially supported by the Health research fund of Copenhagen University Hospital and Hans & Nora Buchard's Fund.

Funding Information:
Funding: The study was financially supported by the Health research fund of Copenhagen University Hospital and Hans & Nora Buchard's Fund.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.

ID: 303671073