Role of lymphadenectomy in endometrioid endometrial cancer

To assess the risk factors associated with node involvement.

In the period 1990-2008 a total of 265 endometrial cancers were treated in the Institut Universitari Dexeus. We analysed the rate of myometrial invasion, tumour grade, histological type and node involvement.

Overall, 86% of tumours were endometrioid, 5.3% papillary serous, 4.9% mixed and 2.6% endometrial stroma sarcoma. Among those with endometrioid histology, lymphadenectomy was not performed (NL) in 85 cases (37.2%), whereas pelvic lymphadenectomy (PL) or pelvic and aortic lymphadenectomy (PAL) was carried out in 84 (36.84%) and 59 patients (25.87%), respectively. In NL patients the overall disease-free survival (DFS) rate at five years was 92.8%. In the PL group, node involvement was observed in 2.4% of cases and the five-year DFS rate was 92.3%. Among PAL patients, 18.6% showed node involvement (72.7% positive pelvic nodes and 63.6% aortic). Aortic involvement was present in 5.9% of cases when there was no pelvic disease, whereas in the presence of positive pelvic nodes the rate of aortic involvement was 50%. The DFS rate at five years was 93.6%. Referring to the risk factors, when infiltration was > 50% of the myometrium, lymph node involvement occurred in 37% of cases and G3 tumors in 45.5%.

Node involvement is more commonly observed in cases with > 50% myometrial invasion and G3, accounting for 25% of cases that can be considered as at-risk patients. When node involvement is present it is equally distributed between the pelvic and aortic levels. As node involvement is a predictive factor for distant metastasis, the 25% of patients considered to be at risk should undergo pelvic and aortic lymphadenectomy