Endometrial cancer recurrence after the use of a uterine manipulator during laparoscopic surgery

Objective: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is the standard approach for the staging and treatment of early-stage endometrial cancer (EC) and often includes use of a uterine manipulator. Uterine perforation is a known risk in this setting, and the impact of perforation and tumor spillage on cancer recurrence is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the association between uterine perforation and/or tumor spillage at the time of MIS for low-grade, early-stage EC on disease recurrence.

Methods: A retrospective single-center cohort study was conducted including patients who underwent MIS for management of low-grade and early-stage EC with use of a uterine manipulator. Rates of disease recurrence were compared between patients with and without documented uterine perforation and/or tumor spillage at the time of surgery. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05.

Results: 408 patients with low-grade and early-stage EC were identified from the tumor registry and included in the study. Uterine perforation and/or tumor spillage was documented in 5.9 % (24/408) of cases. Recurrent disease was noted in 8.1 % (33/408) of the entire cohort. Most patients had isolated local recurrence (23/33; 69.7 %), while 9.1 % (3/33) had distant recurrence and 21.2 % (7/33) had both local and distant recurrence. There was no association between uterine perforation and/or tumor spillage and recurrence rates (p = 0.67). The trend in disease free survival was shorter among patients with these complications.

Conclusions: Our analysis did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference in disease recurrence rates among patients with early-stage, low-grade EC based on uterine perforation and/or tumor spillage at the time of surgery.