STAGE-1 ENDOMETRIAL CANCER - TREATMENT MODALITIES AND FACTORS INFLUENCING RECURRENCE

One hundred and nineteen patients treated for FIGO Stage 1 endometrial adenocarcinoma were reviewed retrospectively to determine if adjuvant radiotherapy reduced disease recurrence. The patients had all been tr eated in the Hunter Region of New South Wales over a 10-year period fr om 1978 to 1988. Median follow up was 82 months with a range of 24 to 163 months. Treatment consisted of surgery alone (75.6%), surgery and brachytherapy (17.6%), surgery and megavoltage therapy (4.2%), and sur gery with both brachytherapy and megavoltage therapy (2.5%). The overa ll recurrence rate was 10.1%. Recurrence at the vaginal vault alone oc curred in 3.4%. The median time to recurrence was 25.0 months. A stati stically significant correlation was found between overall recurrence risk and poorly differentiated lesions (p <0.0001). Just failing to re ach statistical significance were age over 70 years (p<0.06) and patie nt weight less than 70 kg (p = 0.06). Depth of myometrial invasion (p = 0.17), use of adjuvant radiotherapy (p = 0.17) and uterine cavity si ze (p = 0.48) were not significantly correlated with risk of recurrenc e. The 5-year survival rate was 93.8%.