Complications after the treatment of endometrial cancer: a prospective study using the French-Italian glossary.

INTRODUCTION: The evaluation of treatment complications is crucial in modern oncology because they heavily influence the every day life of patients. Several authors confirmed the reproducibility of the French-Italian glossary to score the complications in patients with endometrial cancer after radiotherapy (RT), but the treatment of endometrial carcinoma is primarily surgical and chemotherapy is often used for high-risk disease. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to analyze the incidence of complications in our patients treated for endometrial cancer and to verify whether the glossary is a suitable instrument in the description of complications after surgery, RT, and chemotherapy. METHODS: The data of patients affected by endometrial cancer treated in the Gynecology and Obstetrics Academic Department, Azienda Ospedaliera Mauriziano Umberto I in Turin from 2000 to 2009 (with surgery alone or integrated treatments) were prospectively collected, and complications were described using the glossary. Every patient included in the analyses had a minimum of 18 months follow-up. RESULTS: Of the 271 patients, 68 (25%) experienced at least 1 complication with 87 overall complications. Most of the complications were mild (63%) and were found in the urinary (30%) or cutaneous systems (30%). Forty-four (50%) complications appeared within 1 year after treatment, but 9 (10%) complications appeared after 60 months of follow-up. Patients who were submitted to both surgery and RT showed a trend of higher rate of at least 1 complication (19/58 [32.7%]) if compared with surgery alone (36/135 [26.6%]), even if the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.09). The incidence of complications in patients treated or not with lymphadenectomy was not statistically different (P = 0.088), whereas patients treated with laparotomy had a higher rate of cutaneous complications if compared with the laparoscopic approach (P = 0.018). The glossary included all observed complications. CONCLUSIONS: One every 4 women treated for endometrial cancer develops a complication. Clinicians should check for complications especially after integrated treatments maintaining surveillance even in the long term. The glossary is a comprehensive instrument to describe the complications of endometrial cancer, regardless of the type of treatment delivered.

Analysis of vitamin D receptor expression and clinical correlations in patients with ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Although the antiproliferative and differentiating properties of vitamin D have been demonstrated, its effects on cancer cells are variable. Little is known about vitamin D receptor (VDR) levels in patients with ovarian cancer. In this population we sought to determine correlations between VDR expression, clinical parameters and treatment outcome. METHODS: We analyzed VDR content in platelets of healthy women and of a cohort of patients with ovarian tumors and we evaluated possible correlations with clinical parameters, tumor characterization (stage, histology, nuclear grading, ascites), response to therapy and survival. Moreover receptor expression was evaluated immunohistochemically on tissue samples. RESULTS: VDR levels were markedly lower in healthy women when compared with the pathological group. In the latter a significant increase in receptor expression was observed in malignancies compared with benign cases. No correlation existed between VDR expression and clinicopathological parameters, although we observed an advantage on survival if patients had a higher level of VDR expression in platelets. A cytoplasmic localization of the protein was observed by immunohistochemistry in ovarian cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D receptor status measured in platelets differs significantly between healthy and pathological groups, increasing with malignancy, and there is a trend towards longer overall survival for tumors showing higher VDR levels. These data suggest that platelet VDR content could be used as a pathological marker. The meaning of this increased VDR expression in platelets needs further investigation and it is possibly linked to an inflammatory response.