Development of endometrial cancer after radiation treatment for cervical carcinoma

To detail the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center experience with 23 patients treated with radiation therapy for invasive cervical carcinoma who subsequently developed endometrial carcinoma.

We conducted a retrospective chart and pathology review on patients diagnosed with endometrial cancer between 1976 and 2000 who had previously received definitive radiation treatment for cervical cancer. Abstracted data included patient demographics, type of radiation therapy, histological grade, histological subtype, and stage of endometrial cancer.

The mean age at endometrial cancer diagnosis was 64.4 years (range 53-80), and the average latency period from initial therapy to development of endometrial carcinoma was 14 years (range 6-27). Distribution by stage, grade, and histology was as follows: stage I, five (22%); stage II, one (4%); stage III, nine (39%); stage IV, seven (30%); unknown stage, one (4%); grade 1, one (4%); grade 2, three (13%); grade 3, 17 (74%); unknown grade, two (9%); carcinosarcoma, eight (35%); endometrioid, four (17%); papillary serous, six (26%); clear cell, one (4%); mucinous, one (4%); undifferentiated, one (4%); and unknown histology, two (9%). The median survival was 24 months, and the 2- and 5-year survival rates were 50% (95% confidence interval [CI] 31.4%, 78.9%) and 21% (95% CI 8.1%, 56.3%), respectively.

Patients treated with definitive radiation therapy for invasive cervical cancer may still have viable endometrium at risk for neoplasia. Endometrial cancers that develop after radiation treatment have a preponderance of high-risk histological subtypes and, consequently, a poor prognosis.