Laparoscopic surgery is effective and safe in high-risk endometrial cancer

Laparoscopy for early/low-risk endometrial cancer (EC) is safe, but evidence for high-risk cases is insufficient. This study aimed to compare perioperative safety and survival outcomes between high-risk EC patients receiving laparoscopic surgery and laparotomy.

A total of 267 high-risk EC patients (stage IA, grade 3; stage IA, type II tumors; stage IB-III, regardless of histologic grade) undergone surgery in Peking University People's Hospital from 2006 to 2016 were retrospectively enrolled in the study. To evaluate the safety of laparoscopic surgery, the incidence of perioperative complications and long-term oncological outcomes were compared between patients receiving laparoscopic surgery or laparotomy. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression.

Laparoscopic approach was associated with shorter mean operative time (183.0±60.3 vs. 202.3±67.0 mins, P=0.02), less blood loss (210.2±255.5 vs. 484.9±328.2 mL, P<0.001) and lower transfusion rate (10.4% vs. 31.6%, P<0.001) than laparotomy. Both Kaplan-Meier method and univariate Cox regressions showed that laparoscopic surgery and laparotomy had similar 5-year disease-free (88.8% vs. 84.6%, P=0.33) and overall survival (95.6% vs. 90.2%, P=0.58). In multivariate analysis, both stage and grade were associated with oncological outcomes whereas surgical approach was not a risk factor for prognosis.

Laparoscopic surgery is effective and safe in high-risk EC, though further validations by randomized clinical trials are needed.