K. Holcomb et al., The impact of pretreatment staging laparotomy on survival in locally advanced cervical carcinoma, EUR J GYN O, 20(2), 1999, pp. 90-93
The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the effect of pret
reatment surgical staging on survival of patients with locally advanced cer
vical carcinoma. Two hundred and seventy-four women with cervical cancer st
ages IIB-IVA treated with primary radiotherapy comprised the study group. E
ighty-nine patients underwent pretreatment staging laparotomy (group 1) and
172 patients underwent clinical staging (group 2). Thirteen patients under
went CT guided biopsy of paraaortic adenopathy. Paraaortic metastases were
detected in 12.3% and intraabdominal metastases were found in 4.5% of patie
nts in group 1.
Extended field radiotherapy and/or systemic chemotherapy were given in thes
e cases. The median survival of patients in group 1 was statistically longe
r than that of patients in group 2, 29 months vs 19 months, respectively (p
=.01). Multivariate analysis controlling for both stage and age showed pret
reatment staging laparotomy is a significant predictor of survival (p=.03).
Our data suggest that surgical staging may be beneficial in patients with
locally advanced cervical carcinoma.