Uterine sarcoma: the Hacettepe hospital experience of 88 consecutive patients

The treatment modalities of 88 consecutive patients with uterine sarcomas were reviewed retrospectively in the hope of offering a more rational therapy especially in early stage disease. Of the patients, 47 had Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) (53.4%), 28 had Malignant Mixed Mesodermal Tumor (MMMT) (31.8%) and 8 had Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma (ESS) (9.0%). The patients with uterine sarcoma constituted 7.8% of all patients with uterine malignancies during the study period (88/1124). The mean age of this series at diagnosis was 49.2 years. This figure was 45.1, 53.2 and 35.3 for LMS, MMMT and ESS, respectively. The surgical procedure employed was total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingoophorectomy (TAH + BSO) in 53 (58.9%) patients and 35 patients underwent TAH + BSO and pelvic and paraaortic lymphadenectomy. The overall incidence of lymph node metastases was 28.5% (4/14) for MMMT and 5.8% (1/17) for LMS cases, respectively. The overall 3-year survival rate of this series was 29.5% (23/88). This figure was found to be 59.4% (22/37) for stage I disease and 27.2 (3/11) for stage II disease; The stage I patients with and without adjuvant therapy had similar survival rates. This study confirms that due to the existence of a substantial risk of lymph node metastasis, a complete surgical staging is necessary in the management of uterine sarcomas particularly of MMMT type. Another deserving finding is the failure to detect any therapeutic effect of adjuvant therapy in stage I patients.