Complete surgical staging of early endometrial adenocarcinoma: optimizing patient outcomes

Endometrial adenocarcinoma is the most common gynecologic malignancy. Strategies for treatment of this disease should not only emphasize quality of care resulting in cure of disease, but also use health care resources in the most efficient manner possible. Based on available data, we recommend that all patients with the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma undergo complete surgical staging with lymph node dissection. Radiation therapy is reserved only for patients with evidence of extrauterine disease. This approach maximizes the amount of information available for treatment planning and offers the potential therapeutic advantage of lymph node dissection. Additionally, in a cost analysis, this approach appears to be the most cost-effective.