Preoperative whole pelvic external irradiation in stage I endometrial cancer

Between 1966 and 1978, 201 patients with adenocarcinoma of the endometrium were treated at two hospitals in San Diego. Of these patients, 161 had disease limited to the corpus at the time of diagnosis. The majority of these patients received external whole-pelvic irradiation, followed as soon as possible by simple extrafascial hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. When this treatment method was used, actuarial survivals of 95% for Stage I disease were achieved. Also reported is the low incidence of wound complications in the group of patients operated soon after cessation of irradiation. The patients treated in this fashion had good survival rates, little morbidity from the adjunctive irradiation, and fewer wound complications than previously anticipated.