Using simple radiologic measurements to anticipate surgical challenge in endometrial cancer: a prospective study

To determine if linear measurements of adiposity from pre-operative imaging can improve anticipation of surgical difficulty among endometrial cancer patients.

Eighty patients with newly diagnosed endometrial cancer were enrolled. Routine pre-operative imaging (MRI or CT) was performed. Radiologic linear measurements of the following were obtained: anterior-to-posterior skin distance; anterior skin to anterior edge of L5 distance (total anterior); anterior peritoneum to anterior edge of L5 distance (visceral obesity); and posterior edge of L5 to posterior skin distance (total posterior). Surgeons completed questionnaires quantifying preoperative anticipated operative difficulty and postoperative reported operative difficulty. The primary objective was to assess for a correlation between linear measurements of visceral fat and reported operative difficulty.

Seventy-nine patients had questionnaires completed, preoperative imaging obtained, and surgery performed. Univariate analysis showed all four linear measurements, body mass index, weight, and anticipated operative difficulty were associated with increased reported operative difficulty (P< 0.05). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that body mass index and linear measurements visceral obesity and total posterior were independently associated with increased reported operative difficulty (P< 0.05). Compared with body mass index, the visceral obesity measurement was more sensitive and specific for predicting increased reported operative difficulty (visceral obesity; sensitivity 54%, specificity 91 %; body mass index; sensitivity 38%, specificity 89%). A difficulty risk model combining body mass index, visceral obesity, and total posterior demonstrated better predictive performance than any individual preoperative variable.

Simple linear measurements of visceral fat obtained from preoperative imaging are more predictive than body mass index alone in anticipating surgeon-reported operative difficulty. These easily obtained measurements may assist in preoperative decision making in this challenging patient population.