Is It Possible to Perform Less Radical Surgery for Invasive Uterine Cervical Cancer?

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIMS: A retrospective analysis was performed to evaluate the possibility of less radical surgery for early-stage invasive uterine cervical cancer without compromising the oncological outcome. METHODS: The analysis was performed on 175 patients with invasive uterine cervical cancer in FIGO stage IA2-IIB, all of whom underwent primary radical hysterectomy. Relationship of tumor size with the incidence of pathologic parametrial involvement and the pelvic lymph node metastasis were investigated. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients had tumor size ≤2 cm and 124 had tumor size >2 cm. Patients with tumor size ≤2 cm had a significantly lower incidence of parametrial invasion (p < 0.0001), lymph node metastasis (p < 0.0001), lymph vascular space involvement (p < 0.0001) and recurrence (p = 0.0002) than patients with tumor size >2 cm. Five-year relapse-free survival rate was 98 and 73%, respectively (p = 0.0004). CONCLUSION: It is suggested that less radical surgery may be appropriate for some cases with tumor size <2 cm.