Treatment of uterine sarcoma at the University of Florence from 1980-2001.

PURPOSE: To correlate the treatment used in uterine sarcoma with outcome. The prognostic importance of pathology, clinical parameters and treatment are analyzed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty patients (median age, 59 years; range, 37-85) with histologically verified uterine sarcoma were identified from a database compiled at the University of Florence from 1980 to 2001. Patients were followed for a median of 54 months (range, 3 months to 10 years). Twenty-four patients had leiomyosarcoma, 12 patients had mixed mullerian tumors, and 3 patients had endometrial stromal sarcoma. Stage I, II, III and IV tumors were identified in 22, 2, 9 and 7 patients, respectively. High, intermediate, low and unspecified grade sarcoma occurred in 9, 4, 5 and 22 patients, respectively. RESULTS: At the time of analysis, 58% of patients had died and 42% were alive, with a median survival of 2 years from the initial diagnosis. Cause-specific survival for the entire group was 81%, 41% and 25% at 1, 3 and 5 years, respectively. In our series, univariate analysis for cause-specific survival did not demonstrate statistical significance for histology, grade, stage or age. There appeared to be a significant impact for postoperative radiotherapy in reducing local recurrence with a total dose higher than 50 Gy. CONCLUSIONS: Our data favor treatment for uterine sarcoma with radical surgery plus irradiation, even in elderly patients.