A randomized trial of adjuvant progestagen in early endometrial cancer

A randomized, controlled trial was designed to determine whether adjuvant progestagen therapy improves survival in patients with Stage I or Stage II endometrial cancer. After surgery, 1148 patients were randomly assigned to adjuvant treatment with progesterone or were given no additional therapy. The duration of follow-up ranged from 42 to 132 months (median follow-up, 72 months). Crude survival and relapse rates were similar for both groups. Death due to intercurrent disease was higher in the progesterone group (P = 0.04). The median survival of the group of patients with cancer-related death was higher in the progestagen group than in the control group (30 and 22 months, respectively; P = 0.03). In 461 high-risk patients, a tendency towards fewer cancer-related deaths and a better disease-free survival in the treatment group was observed, but crude survival was unchanged. We conclude that there is little to gain from adjuvant progestagen therapy in patients with low-risk endometrial cancer, and that further studies are needed in high-risk patients.