Operative and Conservative Treatment of Uterine Sarcomas

Long-term impact of lymphadenectomies in patients with low-grade, early-stage uterine endometrial stroma sarcoma

AIM

The aim of our study was to investigate the lymph node metastasis (LNM) rate and effect of lymph node dissection (LND) in patients with stage I, low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma (LGESS).

METHODS

Patients with stage I LGESS (n = 119) that underwent surgery from July 1969 to July 2017, following up over 48 years at the China National Cancer Center were retrospectively analyzed in this study.

RESULTS

Surgical records and consulting data for patients with LGESS were analyzed to find that 47 patients received systematic pelvic LND. The number of patients with menopause in the LND(+) group were significantly lower than those in LND(-) group (2.1% vs 22.2%, P = 0.005), meanwhile, patients received bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy procedure in LND(+) group were significantly higher than LND(-) (97.9% vs 58.3%, P < 0.001). Neither progression-free survival nor overall survival was significantly improved in the LND(+) group even after propensity score matching although the progression-free survival has a stronger trend in LND(+) population.

CONCLUSION

A systematic LND was not significantly associated with prognosis for patients with early-stage LGESS. There is no sufficient indication for a systematic LND for patients with early-stage LGESS. A systematic LND might be necessary if enlarged lymph nodes were detected by image graphology or observation during surgery.

Leiomyosarcoma of the stomach with metastasis to the liver: a case report with review of the literature

Leiomyosarcoma of the stomach is a very rare malignancy that was not distinguished from the more frequent gastrointestinal stromal tumors until early 2000s. Here we report on a case of a metastatic disease that developed in a 47-year-old man 2 years after he was diagnosed with the primary tumor and treated with curative surgical excision and adjuvant doxorubicin. The primary and metastatic lesions were positive for smooth muscle markers α-smooth muscle actin and h-caldesmon and negative for CD117, DOG-1 and S100 by immunohistochemistry. Metastatic disease progressed on additional monotherapy with doxorubicin and docetaxel-gemcitabine combination, and stable disease was achieved upon treatment with pazopanib. Patient is surviving 35 months since diagnosis of the primary tumor and 11 months since diagnosis of metastatic disease.

Outcome and prognosis in uterine sarcoma and malignant mixed Mullerian tumor

PURPOSE

There is low evidence regarding the optimal treatment in patients with uterine sarcomas and malignant mixed Mullerian tumors (MMMTs). This study provides an overview of experience at our center with patients diagnosed with uterine sarcoma and MMMT, in relation to the clinical management and outcome.

METHODS

The medical records for 143 patients with low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS), leiomyosarcoma (LMS), and high-grade (undifferentiated) endometrial sarcoma (UES) and MMMT were reviewed. All available clinical and pathological data were collected and analyzed. Putative prognostic factors were entered into a multivariate analysis using a Cox proportional hazards ratio model, and survival data were calculated.

RESULTS

The 5-year overall survival rates were significantly different between patients with ESS, LMS, and UES and MMMT (86 vs. 40 vs. 57 vs. 45 %; P < 0.001). The multivariate analysis showed that the patients' age, higher FIGO stage (III-IV), a history of smoking, prior pelvic radiation, diabetes, and residual tumor after surgery were associated with a poorer overall survival. Histological subtypes of LMS (HR 4.68; 95 % CI 1.35-16.17), UES (HR 1.21; 95 % CI 0.26-5.77) and MMMT (HR 1.63; 95 % CI 0.42-6.43) were also associated with a poorer overall survival than ESS (P = 0.008). Adjuvant therapies showed no associations with overall survival.

CONCLUSIONS

Adjuvant therapy has so far not shown any overall survival benefit, and the focus is therefore on primary surgery. In future studies, the entities should be investigated separately in relation to prognostic factors and effective therapeutic management.

Surgical Methods for the Treatment of Uterine Fibroids - Risk of Uterine Sarcoma and Problems of Morcellation: Position Paper of the DGGG

The appropriate surgical technique to treat patients with uterine fibroids is still a matter of debate as is the potential risk of incorrect treatment if histological examination detects a uterine sarcoma instead of uterine fibroids. The published epidemiology for uterine sarcoma is set against the incidence of accidental findings during surgery for uterine fibroids. International comments on this topic are discussed and are incorporated into the assessment by the German Society for Gynecology and Obstetrics (DGGG). The ICD-O-3 version of 2003 was used for the anatomical and topographical coding of uterine sarcomas, and the "Operations- und Prozedurenschlüssel" (OPS) 2014, the German standard for process codes and interventions, was used to determine surgical extirpation methods. Categorical qualifiers were defined to analyze the data provided by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the German Federal Bureau of Statistics (DESTATIS; Hospital and Causes of Death Statistics), the population-based Cancer Register of Bavaria. A systematic search was done of the MEDLINE database and the Cochrane collaboration, covering the period from 1966 until November 2014. The incidence of uterine sarcoma and uterine fibroids in uterine surgery was compared to the literature and with the different registries. The incidence of uterine sarcoma in 2010, standardized for age, was 1.53 for Bavaria, or 1.30 for every 100 000 women, respectively, averaged for the years 2002-2011, and 1.30 for every 100 000 women in Germany. The mean incidence collated from various surveys was 2.02 for every 100 000 women (0.35-7.02; standard deviation 2.01). The numbers of inpatient surgical procedures such as myoma enucleation, morcellation, hysterectomy or cervical stump removal to treat the indication "uterine myoma" have steadily declined in Germany across all age groups (an absolute decrease of 17 % in 2012 compared to 2007). There has been a shift in the preferred method of surgical access from an abdominal/vaginal approach to endoscopic or endoscopically assisted procedures to treat uterine fibroids, with the use of morcellation increasing by almost 11 000 coded procedures in 2012. Based on international statements (AAGL, ACOG, ESGE, FDA, SGO) on the risk of uterine sarcoma as an coincidental finding during uterine fibroid surgery and the associated risk of a deterioration of prognosis (in the case of morcellation procedures), this overview presents the opinion of the DGGG in the form of four Statements, five Recommendation and four Demands.