Survival After Pelvic Exenteration for Cervical Cancer

The purpose of this work was to identify the results of pelvic exenteration for recurrent, persistent or locally advanced cervical cancer in terms of survival performed for 41 patients in Salah Azaiez Institute.

We conducted a retrospective unicentric study. The association between PE and OS was estimated using the method of Kaplan-Meier using SPSS ver 24.

Median age at the time of intervention was 53.9 years old. FIGO stage IIB was the most frequent (46.3%). Eighteen patients had pelvic exenteration after neoadjuvant treatment. Resection margins were free of tumor in 83.3% of cases. Twenty-three patients underwent pelvic exenteration for recurrence of cervical cancer treated. The median time of recurrence was 23.4 months. Free resection margins were obtained in 69.5% of cases. Postoperative complications were noted in 61% of patients. Two deaths were seen in the early postoperative period. After a median follow-up of 40.5 months, 24.4% of recurrences were noted. Overall survival at 5 years was 51% and recurrence-free survival at one year was 39%. Prognostic factors which impact overall and recurrence-free survival were the size of recurrence and resection margins after exenteration. The time between the end of initial treatment and recurrence was the only predictive factor of recurrence after pelvic exenteration.

Pelvic exenteration remains a curative treatment of cervical cancer in certain indications despite high morbidity. A rigorous preoperative selection of candidate may reduce the morbidity and improve the survival of patients.