Efficacy of para-aortic lymphadenectomy in early-stage endometrioid uterine corpus cancer

Purpose: The objective of this study was to assess whether para-aortic lymphadenectomy has therapeutic efficacy for patients with early-stage endometrioid uterine cancer who underwent systematic pelvic lymphadenectomy. Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed the medical records and pathological findings of 547 patients with histologically proven FIGO stage I-II endometrioid uterine cancer, based on comprehensive surgical staging, including pelvic with or without para-aortic lymphadenectomy. Results: Among 547 patients, 330 patients had systematic pelvic lymphadenectomy only, and 217 had systematic pelvic with para-aortic lymphadenectomy. There were no significant differences in histopathological factors in the high-risk group, even though deep myometrial invasion (p = 0.02) and lymphvascular space invasion (p = 0.01) were more common in patients who underwent systematic pelvic with para-aortic lymphadenectomy in all study populations. Within a median follow-up of 31 (range, 5-120) months, there was no significant difference in overall survival between the pelvic lymphadenectomy only and pelvic with para-aortic lymphadenectomy groups in all populations (p = 0.77), even in high-risk patients (p = 0.82). Upon multivariate analysis, patients with lymphvascular space invasion had significantly worse overall survival (odds ratio (OR) = 7.38; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.86-29.23; p = 0.004). Conclusions: Although a prospective, randomized study needs to be performed for confirmation, our data suggest that the therapeutic benefit of para-aortic lymphadenectomy is uncertain in stage I and II endometrioid uterine corpus cancer, even in patients at high-risk for recurrence.