OBJECTIVE

To investigate the safety and efficacy of abdominal radical hysterectomy (ARH) and laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (LRH) in managing early-stage cervical cancer.

METHODS

This retrospective study comprised patients with FIGO stage IA1 with lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI), IA2, and IB1 cervical cancer who underwent radical hysterectomy performed by a single gynecologic oncology team at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from 2000-2018. The clinicopathological characteristics, surgical outcomes, and survival outcomes were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

The ARH and LRH groups consisted of 84 and 172 patients, respectively. The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 89.3 and 95.9% in the ARH and LRH groups ( = 0.122, adjusted HR = 0.449, 95% CI: 0.162-1.239), respectively, while the 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 95.2 and 98.8%, respectively ( = 0.578, adjusted HR = 0.650, 95% CI: 0.143-2.961). The presence of more than two comorbidities led to poor OS ( = 0.011). For patients with a BMI greater than 24 kg/m, LRH was associated with better PFS ( = 0.039). Compared with ARH, LRH was associated with a shorter operation time (248.8 vs. 176.9 min, < 0.001), less blood loss (670.2 vs. 200.9 ml, < 0.001), and lower postoperative ileus rates (2.4% vs. 0%, = 0.042). No significant differences were observed in PFS and OS between 2006-2012, 2013-2015, and 2016-2018 in the LRH group ( = 0.126 and = 0.583).

CONCLUSION

Compared with ARH, LRH yields similar survival and improved surgical outcomes in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. LRH is not inferior to ARH for select cervical cancer patients treated by a single team with adequate laparoscopy experience.