Management of stage II endometrial adenocarcinoma

Charts of 36 patients with clinical stage II endometrial adenocarcinoma over ten years were reviewed. All were staged before any treatment, in accordance with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) guidelines. Although details of treatment varied, two main protocols were used. Fourteen patients were treated with the "standard" protocol involving external whole-pelvis radiation, followed by intracavitary cesium and then hysterectomy. In 1981, a "modified" protocol was introduced, which called for a hysterectomy immediately following intrauterine and vaginal cesium. External radiation therapy was given only to those patients found to have deep myometrial invasion or cervical involvement. Of 14 patients treated by this protocol, seven had no surgical indication for postoperative external radiation. There was no increase in recurrence in these patients, and the five-year survival rate was 76% for patients treated with the modified protocol compared with 65% for those who had standard therapy. Morbidity related to external radiation therapy occurred in two patients with the standard protocol and one patient who received pelvic radiation on the modified protocol.