Pretreatment extraperitoneal surgical staging in primary carcinoma of the cervix uteri.

Sixty-one patients with invasive carcinoma of the cervix uteri underwent extraperitoneal pelvic and para-aortic lymph node sampling along with the exploratory laparotomy. Using the adverse surgical effects criteria modified from the G.O.G., the clinical course of this group of patients was analyzed, retrospectively. The demonstration of metastases had an adverse effect upon survival whether the metastatic disease occurred in the para-aortic or pelvic node regions. No substantial delay in the initiation of radiotherapy occurred regardless of the severity of toxicity.