Vaginal dilator use more than 9 months is a main prognostic factor for reducing G2­late vaginal complications in 3D­vaginal­cuff brachytherapy (interventional radiotherapy)?

PURPOSE: Analyse the impact of different prognostic factors on G2-late vaginal complications after vaginal brachytherapy (VBT) ± external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in postoperative endometrial cancer (PEC). METHODS: One hundred and twenty-six PEC patients treated with VBT ± EBRT were retrospectively analysed considering age, body mass index, applicator diameter, clinical target volume (CTV), use of dilators, chemotherapy and EQD2(α/ß=3) at the most exposed 2 cm3 of the CTV as prognostic factors for vaginal complications. Late vaginal complications were evaluated using objective LENT-SOMA criteria. STATISTICS: descriptive analysis, Chi-square, Fisher and Student tests were applied. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed with the Baptista-Pike exact method and multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Mean age was 65 years (SD ± 10), and median follow-up was 66 months (8-104). 19/126 patients (15%) showed G2-late vaginal complications, and 107/126 (85%) G0-G1. Univariate analysis showed: CTV ≤ 9 cm3 (p = 0.036), use of dilators < 9 months (p = 0.015), and total ≥ 68 Gy EQD2 received by 2 cm3 of CTV (p = 0.039) were associated with G2-late vaginal toxicity. Multivariate analysis showed the use of dilators < 9 months as an independent prognostic factor for G2-late vaginal toxicity (p = 0.043, OR 8.59, CI 1.59-159.9). CONCLUSION: The use of dilators < 9 months in VBT ± EBRT for PEC was an independent prognostic factor for G2-late vaginal toxicity. The use of vaginal dilators ≥ 9 months requires further analysis in studies evaluating late vaginal toxicity.

How to deal with prognostic factors and radiotherapy results in uterine neoplasms with a sarcomatous component?

PURPOSE: Uterine tumours with a sarcomatous component are rare neoplasms with a wide pathologic heterogeneity in which the stage is the main prognostic factor. These aspects and their aggressiveness make the analysis of prognostic factors and radiotherapy difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic factors by stages and to assess the impact of prognostic factors and the effect of radiotherapy on the outcome of the disease. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Eighty-one patients diagnosed and treated for uterine tumours with a sarcomatous component at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona between 1975 and 2003 were retrospectively studied; 76/81 patients underwent surgery (total hysterectomy plus bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and in 13/76 of these patients an additional pelvic lymphadenectomy was performed). All 76 patients were staged after pathological evaluation of the surgical specimen by FIGO classification with 54 patients being stages I-II and 27 patients stages III-IVA. Only 5 patients were clinically staged as III-IVA. Radiotherapy was administered in 21 women with early-stage tumours and in 16 with advanced neoplasms. 5/81 patients received complementary chemotherapy to the surgery and 5 patients received chemotherapy as treatment of local and distant relapse (All the patients were treated with a different chemotherapy schedule). The impact of pathologic prognostic factors and radiotherapy on specific overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), local relapse-free survival (LRFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were analysed by Log Rank test and Cox proportional risk models. The effect of each risk factor was studied by the hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: An increased frequency of several adverse prognostic factors was observed in tumours with advanced stages compared to early neoplasms in deep myometrial invasion (83% vs. 27%), VLSI (75% vs. 29%), tumour size >8 cm (50% vs. 30%) and multicentricity (36% vs. 10%), and similar values were found for necrosis (79% vs. 78%) and high mitotic index (78% vs. 80%). For pathological type the frequency by advanced vs. early stages was 54% vs. 52% for carcinosarcomas, 33.5% vs. 17.5% for leiomyosarcoma, and 30.5% and 12.5% for adenosarcoma and endometrial stromal sarcoma, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that the stage was the only independent prognostic factor. Stratification by early (I-II) and advanced stages (III, IV) revealed tumour size >8 cm was the only prognostic factor significantly associated with OS, DFS, LRFS and DMFS on univariate analysis for early stages (HR: OS 2.52, DFS 3.10, LRFS 3.10 and DMFS 2.63). For advanced stages, radiotherapy was the only prognostic factor associated with OS, DFS, LRFS and DMFS on multivariate analysis (HR: OS 4.26, DFS 3.14, LRFS 3.25 and DMFS 3.66). CONCLUSIONS: Uterine tumours with a sarcomatous component have a poor outcome in spite of treatment in comparison to endometrial carcinoma, probably due to the higher frequency of adverse prognostic factors. In early stages tumour size was the most determining factor for OS, DFS, LRFS and DMFS. Radiotherapy significantly improved these survivals in advanced cases.

Recurrence and survival in surgically treated endometrioid endometrial cancer.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to evaluate different surgical treatments and radiotherapy on patterns of recurrence and overall survival in patients with endometrioid-type endometrial cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The retrospective records of 162 patients with endometrioid endometrial cancer were collected. Patients were surgically treated from 1997 to 2002. Recurrence and survival were analyzed according to patient age, surgical procedure, lymphadenectomy, externalbeam irradiation, brachytherapy, surgical stage, myometrial invasion, and tumor grade. Standard statistical calculations were used. RESULTS: Median age was 64 years. Median follow-up was 44 months. Overall, ten patients (5.6%) experienced recurrence and 14 (8.6%) died. With univariate analysis, statistical significance for survival was found for age older than 70 years, tumor grade, myometrial invasion, and stage. Multivariate analysis, however, found only age, stage, and grade to be significant. With univariate analysis, statistical significance for recurrence was found for tumor grade, stage, and external-beam radiotherapy as risk factors. Multivariate analysis found only radiotherapy and brachytherapy to be significant, but in an inverted sense, with brachytherapy having a protective effect. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that brachytherapy protects against recurrence and that neither a surgical approach nor a lymphadenectomy appear to affect recurrence or survival in patients with surgically treated endometrioid endometrial cancer.