Postoperative radiotherapy for uterine cervical cancer: impact of lymph node and histological type on survival.

AIM

To retrospectively analyze the treatment results of postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) in patients with early-stage uterine cervical cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Records of 141 patients with stage IB-IIB uterine cervical cancer treated with PORT from 1985 to 2004 were retrospectively reviewed. The majority of patients received whole-pelvic radiotherapy with antero-posterior fields, and the total radiation doses ranged from 10.8-60 Gy (median: 50.4 Gy). The median follow-up of all 141 patients was 106 months (range: 0.8-273.7 months).

RESULTS

Multivariate analysis revealed that positive lymph node status (p=0.001) and histological type (p=0.015) were independent prognostic factors for overall survival. The group with three or more involved lymph nodes was significantly more likely to have extra-pelvic recurrence when compared with the groups with no (p=0.006) and up to two lymph nodes (p=0.024), respectively.

CONCLUSION

PORT yielded excellent pelvic control rates for early-stage uterine cervical cancer. Lymph node status and histological type were significant prognostic factors for overall survival of patients with these tumors.