The role of adjuvant radiation in endometrial cancer

Endometrial cancer treatment ideally begins with a staging procedure including abdominopelvic washing, total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and lymph node evaluation. Recommendations for postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy are determined by recurrence risk. Patients who have undergone staging and have early stage I disease and an absence of high-risk features for recurrence generally are treated with surgery alone. Intermediate-risk patients--those with high-risk stage I disease and some stage II patients--may benefit from adjuvant radiation therapy. Several randomized trials show that radiation therapy improves locoregional control among intermediate-risk patients. The optimal type of radiation therapy, whether vaginal brachytherapy or whole-pelvic radiation therapy, remains undetermined, though treatment decision can be guided by risk factors not encompassed by the current staging system. Patients with high-risk stage II disease and stage III disease generally receive external-beam radiotherapy, often in combination with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy alone in advanced-stage patients is a consideration, given the results of the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG)-122 trial.