Doxorubicin and/or cisplatin based chemotherapy for the treatment of endometrial carcinoma with retroperitoneal lymph node metastases

The objective of this review was to assess the effect of adjuvant doxorubicin and/or platinum-based chemotherapy on the survival and patterns of recurrence, of women with completely resected, poor-prognosis endometrial carcinoma with retroperitoneal lymph:node metastases. A retrospective review of 31 cases of endometrial carcinoma with retroperitoneal lymph node metastases seen over a 10-year period at the James Cancer Hospital of The Ohio State University Medical Center is presented. Only patients with histologically documented retroperitoneal lymph node metastases and treated with postoperative doxorubicin and/ or platinum-based chemotherapy were included. With a median follow-up of 53 months (range 5-107), 17 patients (55%) have experienced continuous control of their tumor. Overall 5-year survival was 40% and 5-year disease free survival was 34%. Post-operative chemotherapy with doxorubicin- and/or cisplatinum-containing regimens is well tolerated and provides results that appear to be as good as those achieved with surgery and radiotherapy in the treatment of endometrial carcinoma with nodal or other intra-abdominal metastases (Stages IIIC and IV). However, a randomized study is needed to establish a definitive comparison of these modalities.