Long-term experience with (laterally) extended endopelvic resection (LEER) in relapsed pelvic malignancies

Gynecologic cancers recurring in the pelvis are generally advanced in malignant progression limiting curative treatment approaches. The cancer field theory links cancer progression to reversed morphogenesis and allows the exact anatomical delineation of the cancer field, i.e., the tissue compartment of potential tumor infiltration related to the tumor's ontogenetic stage. Cancer surgery is redefined with the resection of ontogenetic stage-related cancer fields instead of the mere removal of the malignant tumor with an uninvolved tissue margin. Most gynecologic pelvic malignancies recurring in the pelvis represent ontogenetic stages 3 and 4. (Laterally) extended endopelvic resection ((L)EER) has been designed to resect the cancer fields of gynecologic tumors in these advanced ontogenetic stages. This paper reports long-term experience with (L)EER for relapsed pelvic malignancies strongly supporting the cancer field theory and the principle and practice of cancer field resection.