Laparoscopy for the management of early-stage endometrial cancer: from experimental to standard of care.

We performed a search of PUBMED and MEDLINE for articles concerning surgical management of early stage endometrial cancer from 1950 to 2011. From the articles collected we extracted data such as estimated blood loss, operating room time, complications, conversion to laparotomy, and length of hospital stay. Forty-seven relevant sources were analyzed. The patients in the laparoscopy group had less blood loss, fewer complications, longer operating room times, and a shorter length of stay. Lymph node count was similar in both groups. Although obesity is not a contraindication to laparoscopy, it does lead to a higher conversion rate. Route of surgical treatment had no impact on recurrence or survival. Robotic surgery has significant advantages over laparotomy, but advantages over laparoscopy are not as distinct. Laparoscopic hysterectomy offers several advantages over laparotomy. These advantages relate to improvements in patient care with comparable clinical outcome. After careful analysis we believe laparoscopy should be the standard of care for surgical management of early stage endometrial cancer.