Survival of patients with adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix in western Sweden

Survival in adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix varies between different reports. In our study the patients have been treated in a similar way as those with squamous cell carcinoma. One hundred twenty-one adenocarcinomas were diagnosed between 1987 and 1994 in the West Sweden Health Care Region. One hundred of the patients with adenocarcinoma were treated at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and studied retrospectively. The median age was 54 years (range 27-91). Histopathologic differentiation was relatively evenly distributed between well (34%), intermediately (38%), and poorly differentiated (28%). All FIGO stages were represented, but stage I predominated (65%). Depending mainly on tumor stage and age, the patients had either surgery, surgery + radiotherapy, or radiotherapy only. In our study, the five-year survival for adenocarcinoma was 64% and for squamous/adenosquamous carcinoma was 66% (NS). The five-year survival for different stages of adenocarcinomas was for stage I 86%, stage II 38%, stage III 23%, and stage IV 0%, the difference between stage I and stage II being highly significant. Treated in a similar way, the five-year survival for adenocarcinoma is equal to that for squamous/adenosquamous carcinoma in our study.