Background: Women who do not receive adjuvant irradiation after hysterectomy for endometrial carcinoma (EC) are at risk for developing a pelvic recurrence. Disease- and treatment-related factors were examined for their impact on disease-specific survival (DSS) and pelvic control (PC) in patients with locoregional recurrences to whom salvage radiotherapy was administered.
Methods: Forty-five patients with pelvic/vaginal recurrences of EC were treated at a single institution between 1973 and 1991. The median follow-up period was 89 months. Multiple patient-, disease-, and treatment-related factors were examined with univariate and multivariate analysis for their impact on DSS and PC. Kaplan-Meier methods were used to estimate outcomes.
Results: Overall DSS and PC was 51 and 54% at 5 years, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed the following factors to impact on outcome (P < or = 0.05): age (DSS, PC), vaginal stage of recurrence (DSS, PC), size of recurrence (DSS, PC), time interval from hysterectomy (DSS, PC), initial grade (DSS), location of recurrence (PC), and radiation boost technique (PC).
Conclusion: Women in whom endometrial cancer recurrences develop can be salvaged with aggressive radiotherapy consisting of external beam therapy followed by a radiation boost. Close follow-up after the initial hysterectomy is important because patients with low-volume recurrence limited to the vagina have the best outcome.