[A comparison of clinical and surgical-pathologic staging of advanced vulvar cancer]

A surgico-pathological staging system introduced in 1988 by FIGO replaced previously used clinical classification of vulvar cancer extent. The aim of our study was to compare retrospectively the prognostic value of both of these staging systems (with the modification of surgical staging introduced in 1994) in the group of 123 vulvar cancer patients undergoing radical surgery including lymph node dissection in our institution. The comparison of both staging systems is presented in the table. Ninety patients (73%) have been assigned to the same stage in both systems, in 27 patients (22%) the use of surgical system resulted in upstaging, as compared to the clinical classification and 6 patients (5%) have been down-staged by the surgical system. In the analysis of prognostic value of both classifications the surgical staging system proved to have better discriminating power for prediction of survival in vulvar cancer patients.