Overall survival and disease-free survival in endometrial cancer: Prognostic factors in 276 patients

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study reported here was to assess the disease-free survival and overall survival of patients with endometrial cancer and to determine independent factors affecting the prognosis. Materials and methods: This was a retrospective study of a single-center clinical series of 276 patients (mean age 64 years) with histologically confirmed cancer of the corpus uteri. The standard treatments were extrafascial total hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy with selective pelvic/para-aortic node dissection, according to risk for recurrence. Actuarial overall survival and disease-free survival were estimated according to the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses were used to assess the prognostic significance of the different variables. Results: The estimated median follow-up, determined using the inverse Kaplan-Meier method, was 45 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 41.2-48.8) for disease-free survival and 46 months (95% CI 43.0-49.0) for overall survival. The statistically significant variables affecting disease-free survival and overall survival were age, serous-papillary and clear-cell histological types, outer-half myometrial invasion, advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, tumor grades G2 and G3, incomplete surgical resection, positive lymph nodes, lymphovascular space invasion, tumor remnants of.1 cm after surgery, and high-risk group. In the multivariate Cox regression model, predictors of tumor recurrence included advanced FIGO stage (hazard ratio [HR] 4.90, 95% CI 2.57-9.36, P, 0.001) and tumor grades G2 (HR 4.79, 95% CI 1.73-13.27, P = 0.003) and G3 (HR 7.56, 95% CI 2.75-20.73, P, 0.001). The same variables were also associated with a significantly higher risk of tumor-related mortality. Conclusion: FIGO stage and tumor grade were independent prognostic factors of disease-free survival and overall survival in endometrial cancer patients. Outcome was also influenced by histopathologic type, myometrial and lymphovascular space invasion, lymph-node involvement, age, and tumor remnants after surgery, although a larger study sample is probably needed to demonstrate the independent association of these variables with survival. © 2013 Tejerizo-García et al.