Surgical staging of locally advanced uterine cervix cancer - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

Surgical staging of locally advanced uterine cervix cancer |

PURPOSE: to assess to what extent the surgical staging differs from the clinical staging among cases of advanced uterine cervix carcinoma, and also to assess the percentage of cases with positive para-aortic ganglia in this group of patients. METHODS: this is a descriptive prospective study in which 36 patients with histological diagnosis of uterine cervix carcinoma considered locally advanced were included (stages IB2, IIB, IIIA and B, and IVA). The cases were submitted to clinical staging, according to FIGO criteria. All patients were to be treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Age ranged from 40 to 73 years, with a mean of 56.2±7.9. The procedure started with pelvic lymphadenectomy followed by para-aortic lymphadenectomy, in case the pelvic lymph nodes were positive on surgical examination. Examination of the abdominal cavity and lymphadenectomy were done either through laparotomy or laparoscopy, chosen at random. In each case, the clinical staging was compared to the surgical staging, considered the gold standard. RESULTS: in the clinical staging (CS), 7 cases were classified as IB2 (tumors larger than 4 cm), 22 cases as CSII and 7 cases as CSIII. The surgical assessment changed the clinical staging as follows: the stage was decreased in six cases, and increased in 13. There was agreement only in 18 cases (50%). The para-aortic lymph nodes were affected in six cases. CONCLUSIONS: clinical staging of locally advanced uterine cervix carcinoma is incorrect in most of the cases. Such inconsistency may lead to excessive treatment in some cases, but about one fourth of the patients with positive para-aortic ganglia would not be adequately treated with the current standard treatment radiotherapy with chemosensitization, which aims at the local regional control of the pelvic disease.