Impact of restaging lymphadenectomy after sentinel node biopsy on endometrial cancer

Approximately 10 % of patients with an intra-operative diagnosis of low-risk endometrial cancer (EC) will be upstaged after a definitive histological evaluation of hysterectomy and bilateral adnexectomy samples. This study aimed to explore the results associated with the performance of pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy for restaging after upstaging/upgrading these patients, and to compare those who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNB) in the first procedure with those who did not.

This retrospective cohort study included 27 patients diagnosed with low-risk EC (based on the criteria of the European Society of Medical Oncology/European Society of Gynecological Oncology/European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology), who underwent surgical laparoscopic restaging due to upstaging based on the final histological result at Hospital Universitario Donostia from April 2013 to September 2018. Surgical and oncological results were compared between patients who underwent hysterectomy and double adnexectomy without any additional procedures (SNB-; n = 17) and patients who also underwent pelvic&aortic sentinel node biopsysen (SNB+; n = 10). The main outcome evaluated in the study was intra-operative complications. Secondary outcomes were mean operative time, length of hospital stay, number of nodes obtained, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).

The median duration of restaging surgery was 240 [interquartile range (IQR) 180-300) min in the SNB(-) group and 300 (IQR 247.5-330) min in the SNB(+) group; this difference was significant (one-sided Student's t-test, p = 0.0295). With regard to intra-operative complications, there were 17.65 % and 40 % in the SNB(-) and SNB(+) groups, respectively, all of which were vascular; this difference was not significant. There were no significant difference in the length of hospital stay, number of pelvic nodes obtained, PFS or OS between the groups.

Women with EC who require lymph node restaging due to upstaging, and have previously undergone SNB, experience more surgical complications and a longer operative time. The authors advise against performing second restaging surgery in these patients.