Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to identify prognostic factors and patterns of recurrence in patients with stage IB-IIB cervical adenocarcinoma who had undergone radical surgery and to compare these patterns with those observed in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 303 patients (97 with adenocarcinoma and 206 with SCC) with stage IB-IIB cervical cancer who had undergone radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy.
Results: In the case of the adenocarcinoma patients, lymph node metastasis and parametrial invasion were independent indicators of disease-free survival, whereas lymph node metastasis was the only independent prognostic factor for the overall survival of the patients. The sites of recurrence did not significantly differ between the adenocarcinoma and SCC patients. In parametrium-positive patients, adenocarcinoma was found to be an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival. In patients with positive pelvic lymph node, adenocarcinoma was found to be an independent prognostic factor for both disease-free and overall survival.
Conclusions: Adenocarcinoma was found to be an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with positive pelvic node or parametrial extension. Furthermore, the patterns of recurrence did not differ significantly between the adenocarcinoma and SCC patients.
(c) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.