Microinvasive carcinoma of the cervix: an analysis of 31 patients

A retrospective analysis of 31 patients subjected to radical surgery and lyphadenectomy for microinvasive cervical cancer was carried out. The mean age of the patients at diagnosis was 51.4 years. Twenty-nine of the patients had depth of invasion of 3 mm or less whereas 5 of them had lymphovascular space invasion. Thus, 24 patients had microinvasive cervical cancer according to the SGO (Society of Gynecologic Oncology) criteria. While nine patients had minimal stromal invasion (< 1 mm) at diagnosis, the remaining 22 patients fulfilled the criteria of FIGO IA2 disease. Most of the patients had grade I disease. With worsening of differentiation lymphovascular space involvement increases from approximately 11% (2/18) to 50% (1/2). None of the patients had lymph node involvement. All patients are living with no evidence of disease with a mean survival of 39 months. Current FIGO criteria for microinvasive carcinoma permits us to define a subset of patients that can safely be subjected to a more conservative approach.