Uterine serous carcinoma: a historic evaluation of therapy

Objective: Uterine serous carcinoma (USC) is an aggressive, histological subtype of endometrial cancer with a poor prognosis. This study evaluates the additional effect of staging surgery above total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (TAH+BSO) on the use of adjuvant therapy and subsequent survival outcomes in clinical early-stage USC patients. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study includes 75 women treated for clinical early-stage USC. Results: In 33 (44%) clinical early-stage patients surgical staging was performed and 15 patients (45%) proved to have lymphatic or abdominal metastasis. Use of adjuvant therapy was similar in patients, both staged with no metastasis (n=18) and patients who underwent TAH and BSO only (n=42, p = 0.17). No significant survival difference was found between surgically staged and TAH+BSO patients. Conclusions: Surgical staging proved to be important to determine stage of disease and hence prognosis. Surgical staging did not lead to selective avoidance of adjuvant therapy in patients with no metastasis.