Uterine adenosarcoma with sarcomatous overgrowth versus uterine carcinosarcoma: comparison of treatment and survival

Uterine adenosarcoma with sarcomatous overgrowth (ASSO) is a rare variant of uterine sarcoma first described in 1989. This clinicopathologic study was undertaken to compare the treatment and survival of uterine adenosarcoma with sarcomatous overgrowth to that of uterine carcinosarcomas.

A review of uterine sarcomas diagnosed at Washington Hospital Center from January 1988 to December 1998 was performed. Records were reviewed for demographic data, surgical staging, primary and adjuvant therapy, metastatic site, disease recurrence, and survival. All pathology was reviewed and diagnosis confirmed. Statistical analysis included chi(2) test and Student's t test. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted to estimate the median and 5-year survival times. The log-rank test was used to compare survival times. A P value <0.05 was considered significant.

Sixty patients were diagnosed with uterine sarcoma at Washington Hospital Center. Of these, 33 (55%) were uterine carcinosarcomas, 11 (18%) ASSOs, 6 (10%) adenosarcomas, and 10 (17%) leiomyosarcomas. Of the patients diagnosed with uterine ASSO, 3 (27%) were stage I, 3 (27%) stage II, 1 (9%) stage III, and 4 (36%) stage IV. All 11 patients with uterine ASSO underwent total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and tumor debulking. Postoperative adjuvant therapy included chemotherapy (n = 4), radiation (n = 4), combination radiation and chemotherapy (n = 1), and no adjuvant therapy (n = 2). The overall median survival time of patients with uterine ASSO was 13 months. Nine of eleven patients are dead of disease, and two patients (both with stage I) are alive without evidence of disease at 18 and 19 months. Thirty-three patients with carcinosarcoma were identified, with follow-up available on 29 patients. Of these, 10 (34%) were stage I, 6 (22%) stage II, 3 (10%) stage III, and 10 (34%) stage IV. Twenty-seven of the twenty-nine patients diagnosed with carcinosarcoma underwent surgical therapy to include total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, staging and tumor debulking. Two patients died prior to treatment. Postoperative adjuvant therapy included chemotherapy (n = 9), radiation (n = 13), combination (n = 1), and no further therapy (n = 4). Twenty of the twenty-nine patients are dead of disease; there were nine surviving patients at the time of this report (stage I-5, stage II-3, stage III-1). The median survival of these patients was 31 months, with an overall 5-year survival of 22%. Comparison of the Kaplan-Meier survival curves using the log-rank test suggests a worse prognosis for uterine ASSO. However, this did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.0522).

Patients diagnosed with uterine ASSO have a poor prognosis similar to that of carcinosarcoma. Management should include complete surgical staging. Additional therapy in the form of radiation, chemotherapy, or both has been reported; however, the superiority of one modality could not be determined from our data.