Analysis of Conservative Surgical Treatment and Prognosis of Microinvasive Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Cervix Stage IA1: Results of Follow-Up to 20 Years

Comparative evaluations of different surgical and non-surgical treatment methods for early invasive and micro invasive squamous cell carcinoma in the oral and maxillofacial regions: A systematic review

OBJECTIVES

The pathogenesis and progressive behavior of head, neck, oral and maxillofacial (HNOMF) squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has been suggested to be a multistep and multifactorial procedure that necessitates epithelial hyperplasia, epithelial dysplasia, micro invasive squamous cell carcinoma (MISCC) and early invasive squamous cell carcinoma (EISCC); EISCC and MISCC might have a completely different behavior and development process. There are only a limited number of reported HNOMF cases of EISCC or MISCC. There are still no guidelines for the treatment of EISCC and MISCC lesions in the HNOMF regions.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This systematic review was conducted to gather all surgical and non-surgical treatments for EISCC and MISCC lesions in the HNOMF. The study question according to the PICO format was as followed: clinical and histopathological results (O) of all types of treatments (I) for patients with EISCC and MISCC lesions in HNOMF (P) compared to untreated lesions (C). Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched and the search was limited to English-language.

RESULTS

Eight clinical human studies were included. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) after topical application of methyl aminolevulinate (MAL-PDT) and topical Imiquimod 5 % cream both had remarkable outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

However, due to the very limited number of studies conducted on the treatment methods of MISCC and EISCC in the HNOMF regions, further studies are necessary to provide reliability for non-surgical treatment methods.

Regular follow-up with cervical cytology is of questionable value following surgical treatment of microinvasive cervical cancer

OBJECTIVES

To assess the follow-up smears and their outcomes of patients with conservatively managed early-stage cervical cancer as per UK guidelines within our service. To evaluate whether intensive follow-up can detect pre-cancer early compared to the standard 3 yearly follow-up.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective review.

METHODS

All patients treated for early stage (stage 1A1 and 1A2) with cervical cancer from 01/2002 to 01/2020 at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton were included. Patients who had initial hysterectomy were excluded from our analysis. Review conducted using electronic patient records for treatment, histology, and follow-up smears. Number of abnormal follow-up smears and number of recurrent cervical cancers were considered the main outcome measures.

RESULTS

98 cases were identified. 81 (82.65 %) were stage 1A1 and 17 (17.35 %) were stage 1A2. 74 (75.51 %) patients had squamous histology and 24 (24.49 %) had adenocarcinomas. Median follow-up was 11.08 years (4043 days). 510 follow-up smears were performed, of which 33 (6.47 %) were abnormal. 5 of these abnormal smears showed low grade dyskaryosis (0.98 %) and 2 smears showed high grade dyskaryosis (0.39 %). The positive predictive value of follow-up smears to detect pre-cancerous changes was 5.71 %. There were no recurrent cancers detected.

CONCLUSIONS

Microinvasive cervical cancer is effectively managed with conservative surgery. There were no recurrent cancers detected in our cohort during follow-up and there were only 2 high grade dyskaryoses detected (n = 2/510, 0.39 %). We therefore believe that reducing the intensity of follow up of these patients should be considered.

Frequency of post-treatment disease after excisional procedure in stage IA1 squamous cervical carcinoma - a case series

Early stages of cervical cancer in young women need conservative treatments. Electrosurgical therapies (LLETZ, LEEP, SWETZ, NETZ) have been recommended for these women. However, there are recommendations to perform a second excision when the specimen margins are not free of disease. This can lead to some important complications. This article aims to verify the frequency of residual invasive or microinvasive disease after the excisional procedure in women with IA1CC. Data on women with IA1CC diagnosed between 1990 and 2022, were retrieved from medical records. Post-treatment disease was detected during a second surgical procedure or postoperative follow-up. Among the 69 included women, three (4.3 percent; CI95 percent 0-9.2) had residual microinvasive lesions, while none showed invasive disease during a second procedure or follow-up. Only the age of 37 years or more was significantly related to the presence of preinvasive or microinvasive residual lesions. Nearly 80 percent of the women who underwent a second procedure showed no residual lesions. The absence of invasive disease in a second procedure or during the follow-up of these women and the large proportion of women with no residual lesion questions the need for a new surgical procedure even when the surgical margins of the initial specimen are involved.

Unilateral ovarian recurrence 5 years after hysterectomy for microinvasive squamous cervical cancer stage IA1: a rare case report

BACKGROUND

Ovarian metastasis or recurrence of cervical microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is very rare. We report a case of unilateral ovarian recurrence 5 years after hysterectomy for the SCC stage IA1 without lymph vascular space invasion (LVSI).

CASE PRESENTATION

A 49-year-old female patient suffered from a dull pain in the left lower abdomen for 3 months. And five years ago, she received a laparoscopic hysterectomy for the treatment of stage IA1 (without LVSI) SCC of the cervix. The level of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) in serum was significantly elevated (10.60 ng/mL). Pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a left ovarian solid tumor measuring 5.5 × 3.9 × 5.6 cm with heterogeneous enhancement. During laparotomy, the left ovarian tumor was measured about 5.0 × 4.5 × 3.0 cm and seemed densely adherent to the posterior peritoneal wall, including the left ureter. The tumor and pelvic lymph node were carefully removed. Postoperative anatomy revealed a solid mass with a greyish-white section. Postoperative pathology showed recurrent moderately differentiated ovarian SCC with negative pelvic lymph nodes. Immunohistochemistry showed that the tumor cells were positive for P16, P63, P40, and CK5/6 markers, and the positive rate of Ki67 was about 80%.

CONCLUSIONS

Ovary preservation is reasonable and appropriate in young patients with microinvasive SCC. Ovarian recurrence is rare, but gynecological oncologists should not overlook its possibility. The serum SCC-Ag is an important indicator for monitoring postoperative disease progression.

Conservative Treatment of Stage IA1 Cervical Carcinoma Without Lymphovascular Space Invasion: A 20-year Retrospective Study in Brazil

PURPOSE

 To evaluate recurrence rates and risk factors among women with stage IA1 cervical cancer without lymph vascular space invasion managed conservatively.

METHODS

 retrospective review of women with stage IA1 squamous cervical cancer who underwent cold knife cone or loop electrosurgical excision procedure, between 1994 and 2015, at a gynecologic oncology center in Southern Brazil. Age at diagnosis, pre-conization findings, conization method, margin status, residual disease, recurrence and survival rates were collected and analyzed.

RESULTS

 26 women diagnosed with stage IA1 squamous cervical cancer without lymphovascular space invasion underwent conservative management and had at least 12 months follow-up. The mean follow-up was 44.6 months. The mean age at diagnosis was 40.9 years. Median first intercourse occurred at age 16 years, 11.5% were nulliparous and 30.8% were current or past tobacco smokers. There was one Human immunodeficiency virus positive patient diagnosed with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 at 30 months after surgery. However, there were no patients diagnosed with recurrent invasive cervical cancer and there were no deaths due to cervical cancer or other causes in the cohort.

CONCLUSION

 Excellent outcomes were noted in women with stage IA1 cervical cancer without lymphovascular space invasion and with negative margins who were managed conservatively, even in a developing country.

Organization of cervical cancer screening with DNA-HPV testing impact on early-stage cancer detection: a population-based demonstration study in a Brazilian city

BACKGROUND

Cervical cancer is a preventable disease, and the Brazilian screening is opportunistic and has low impact. The current study evaluated an initiative to organize screening using DNA-HPV testing as a replacement for cytology.

METHODS

This demonstration study examined information from 16 384 DNA-HPV tests for screening in women aged 25-64 years from Indaiatuba city between October 2017-March 2020. The comparison was 20 284 women screened using cytology between October 2014-March 2017. The flowchart indicates the repetition of a negative test in five years. HPV16- and/or HPV18-positive tests and the 12 pooled high-risk HPV-positive tests with abnormal liquid-based cytology were referred for colposcopy. If cytology was negative, the HPV test was repeated in 12 months. The analyses evaluated coverage, age-group compliance, and cancer detected.

FINDINGS

After 30 months, the coverage projection was greater than 80%. The age compliance for the HPV test was 99.25%, compared to 78.0% in the cytology program. The HPV test program showed 86.8% negative tests and 6.3% colposcopy referrals, with 78% colposcopies performed. The HPV testing program detected 21 women with cervical cancer with a mean age of 39.6 years, and 67% of cancers were early-stage compared to 12 cervical cancer cases detected by cytological screening (p=0.0284) with a mean age of 49.3 years (p=0.0158), and one case of early-stage (p=0.0014).

INTERPRETATION

Organizing cervical cancer screening using DNA-HPV testing demonstrated high coverage and age compliance in a real-life scenario, and it had an immediate impact on cervical cancer detection at an early-stage.

FUNDING

University of Campinas, Indaiatuba City, and Roche Diagnostics.

Post-Conization FIGO stage IA1 squamous cell cervical carcinoma; is hysterectomy necessary?

OBJECTIVE

To compare and evaluate the results and suitability of two different approaches to the treatment of post-conization International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IA1 cervical carcinoma: a more radical approach, directly scheduling a second surgery versus a more conservative one, which consists of performing a cotest (PAP plus HPV-test) in a follow-up visit and deciding whether to apply a second surgery on the basis of the results.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective descriptive study including 144 cases of stage IA1 cervical carcinoma diagnosed after a loop electrosurgical excisional procedure (conization), between 1987 and 2019 in the Mother-and-Child University Hospital of Gran Canaria (Spain). Selected patients were split into two groups for analysis: patients directly undergoing a second surgical intervention (hysterectomy or re-conization) after diagnosis and patients who were followed-up before making a decision whether to schedule a second surgery or continue to follow-up.

RESULTS

75% of women directly receiving a second surgical intervention (no post-conization follow-up) underwent hysterectomy, while 25% underwent re-conization. Histological outcomes from hysterectomized patients showed 65% negative results for intraepithelial lesions, 9% low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL), 16% high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) and only 10.5% confirmed invasive lesions: hysterectomy complication rate was 7%. Histological studies from women subjected to re-conization showed 32% negative results, 37% LSIL, 5% HSIL and 26% malignancy. In the group of patients who were followed-up after diagnosis, 8.8% needed a second intervention; none of them showed negative histological results, while 100% hysterectomized and 25% patients with re-conization showed HSIL. No unnecessary hysterectomy procedures were conducted in this group. HPV-16 was the most common genotype in both groups.

CONCLUSION

Conization proved to be a suitable alternative to hysterectomy as a treatment for post-conization stage IA1 cervical cancer. Our results showed that 65% hysterectomy procedures conducted without previously monitoring for residual disease corresponded to negative results and were therefore, unnecessary. We conclude that confirmation of the presence of residual disease by using cotest is essential to make a decision on further treatment and that a conservative management is often possible and, in our opinion, preferable.

Conservative treatment of microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix stage IA1: Defining conization height to an optimal oncological outcome

OBJECTIVE

This paper searches an ideal cone height for stage definition and safe treatment of cervical microinvasive squamous carcinoma stage IA1 (MIC IA1), avoiding excessive cervix resection, favoring a future pregnancy.

METHODS

A retrospective study was performed involving 562 women with MIC IA1, from 1985 to 2013, evaluating cone margin involvement, depth of stromal invasion, lymph vascular invasion, conization height, and residual uterine disease (RD). High-grade squamous lesions or worse detection was considered recurrence. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed, including age, conization technique (CKC, cold-knife, or ETZ, excision of transformation zone), and pathological results. Conization height to provide negative margins and the risk of residual disease were analyzed.

RESULTS

Conization was indicated by biopsy CIN2/3 in 293 cases. Definitive treatments were hysterectomy (69.8%), CKC (20.5%), and ETZ (9.7%). Recurrence rate was 5.5%, more frequent in older women (p = 0.030), and less frequent in the hysterectomy group (p = 0.023). Age ≥40 years, ETZ and conization height are independent risk factors for margin involvement. For ages <40 years, 10 mm cone height was associated with 68.6% Negative Predictive Value (NPV) for positive margins, while for 15 mm and 25 mm, the NPV was 75.8% and 96.2%, respectively. With negative margins, the NPV for RD varied from 85.7-92.3% for up to 24 mm cone height and 100% from 25 mm.

CONCLUSION

Conization 10 mm height for women <40 years provided adequate staging for almost 70%, with 10% of RD and few recurrences. A personalized cone height and staging associated with conservative treatment are recommended.

The oncological and obstetric outcomes of cervical squamous cell carcinoma at stage IA1 managed with the loop electrosurgical excision procedure

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy and superiority of loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) in managing stage IA1 cervical microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma (MISCC) without lymph-vascular space invasion (LVSI).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The oncological and reproductive outcomes of a series of patients affected by stage IA1 MISCC without LVSI, initially treated by LEEP between February 2006 and December 2017, were retrospectively reviewed.

RESULTS

Ultimately, 109 patients were included. The mean age at diagnosis was 35.4 years old, and 36 patients were nulliparous. Multifocal lesions were identified in 15 patients (13.8%). The mean cone depth was 17.4 mm. Resection margins were positive/unevaluable and negative in 26 (23.9%) and 83 (76.1%) cases, respectively. Among cases undergoing salvage treatments, the residual disease rate for patients with positive/unevaluable margins was significantly higher than those with negative margins (P = 0.003). During the follow-up period of 43.0 ± 28.9 months, no relapse was identified. Fifteen of 20 patients (75.0%) conceived successfully, with a full-term live birth rate of 93.3%.

CONCLUSIONS

For stage IA1 MISCC without LVSI unexpectedly found in a loop excision, initial LEEP with clear margin is efficient and adequate. For cases with multifocal MISCC, or for those young patients who wish to become pregnant in the future, LEEP is the optimal choice.

Carcinomas of the Uterine Cervix: Comprehensive Review With An Update on Pathogenesis, Nomenclature of Precursor and Invasive Lesions, and Differential Diagnostic Considerations

Most cervical carcinomas and their related lesions are attributed to an infection by human papillomavirus (HPV). The infection usually starts in the basal cells at the squamocolumnar junction. It causes cell proliferation and maturation abnormalities along with nuclear abnormalities resulting in low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions. An overwhelming majority of these lesions spontaneously disappear, and the infection is cleared. In a small subset of high-risk HPV infection cases, the lesions may persist and progress to high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions. These are associated with the incorporation of the viral genome into the human genome. Some of the high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, over several years, progress to invasive carcinoma. Carcinomas of the cervix are usually squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), but 20% to 25% of the cases may manifest as adenocarcinomas. Similar to SCC, adenocarcinomas may initially manifest as adenocarcinomas in situ and may progress to invasive carcinomas after a variable period of time. In the recently published World Health Organization classification of female genital tumors, SCCs, and adenocarcinomas of the cervix are divided into HPV-associated and HPV-independent tumors. This review draws on the latest terminology and the several morphologic subtypes recognized for each category.

Outcome and Subsequent Pregnancy after Fertility-Sparing Surgery of Early-Stage Cervical Cancers

We aimed to investigate the outcomes and subsequent pregnancies of early-stage cervical cancer patients who received conservative fertility-sparing surgery. Women with early-stage cervical cancer who underwent conservative or fertility-sparing surgery in a tertiary medical center were reviewed from 2004 to 2017. Each patient's clinicopathologic characteristics, adjuvant therapy, subsequent pregnancy, and outcome were recorded. There were 32 women recruited, including 12 stage IA1 patients and 20 stage IB1 patients. Twenty-two patients received conization/LEEP and the other 10 patients received radical trachelectomy. Two patients did not complete the definite treatment after fertility-sparing surgery. There were 11 women who had subsequent pregnancies and nine had at least one live birth. The live birth rate was 73.3% (11/15). We conclude that patients with early-stage cervical cancer who undergo fertility-sparing surgery can have a successful pregnancy and delivery. However, patients must receive a detailed consultation before surgery and undergo definitive treatment, if indicated, and regular postoperative surveillance.

Analysis of the risk factors of residual lesions after conization and prognosis of multifocal micro-invasive squamous cell cervical carcinoma treated with different types of surgery

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the residual lesions after conization and the clinical outcome of patients with multifocal micro-invasive squamous cell cervical carcinomas (MMSCCs) treated with different surgical strategies. A retrospective study was carried out in 98 patients with MMSCCs diagnosed by conization and treated between January 2010 and December 2016 in 2 institutions. The patients underwent further different surgeries as therapeutic conization, extrafascial hysterectomy (ES), modified radical hysterectomy (MRH), radical hysterectomy (RH) with or without pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) and regular follow-up. The clinicopathological characteristics of all of the patients were recorded. The risk factors of residual lesions and that of the recurrence were also analyzed in the present study. The logistic regression analysis revealed that cone margins (P=0.001) were correlated with residual disease after conization whereas parameters including age, gravidity, parity, menopause, stage, LVSI and the number of lesions were not predictors of residual lesions. The cone margin status also indicated the incidence of residual disease as follows: The risk of residual disease was lower with a negative margin when compared with the margin with micro-invasive carcinoma [MIC; odds ratio (OR)=0.064, P=0.012] and was lower in margin with a high-grade intraepithelial lesion than the margin with MIC (OR=0.297, P=0.287). The Cox regression analysis revealed that there were no significant correlations between the following surgery scales and postoperative recurrences, nor were any significant correlations found between the recurrences and the gravidity and parity, postmenopausal state, stage, residual disease after conization, margin status, LVSI and number of lesions (P>0.05). Positive cone margin was the only predictive factor for residual disease in patients with MMSCCs. There were no significant correlations between the surgical scales and postoperative recurrences. This result may be due to the excellent prognosis of MICs despite multiple lesions, regardless the treatment.

Fertility preserving options for gynecologic malignancies: A review of current understanding and future directions

Gynecological malignancies affect significant proportion of women in whom fertility preservation is a priority. Advancing reproductive technology and modern surgical techniques are changing the way young women with cancer are counseled regarding their fertility plans at time of cancer diagnosis. This review article provides the reader with fertility preserving updates in gynecologic malignancies as well as those with genetic predisposition for gynecologic malignancies. The different types of gynecologic malignancies including cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancers and their unique obstacles are addressed separately. New insights into conservative cervical cancer surgery and fertility preserving neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by fertility preserving surgery for cervical cancer are discussed. Hormonal management of endometrial cancer are highlighted. Additionally, better understanding of ovarian failure with modern chemotherapy/radiation therapy is summarized. Finally, modern reproductive techniques such as ovarian cryopreservation are reviewed as well as those in early stages are development such as artificial ovarian tissue are previewed.

Comparative analysis of transcervical resection and loop electrosurgical excision in the treatment of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

OBJECTIVE

To compare the efficacy of transcervical resection of the cervix (TCRC) and loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) in the treatment of high-grade cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL).

METHODS

A retrospective case record review was conducted of patients with HSIL treated with TCRC or LEEP at Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences and Zhujiang Hospital, Guangzhou, China, from 2009 to 2015. The clinical characteristics, cone margin statuses, clinical outcomes, and adverse events were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

Among 647 included patients, 292 (45.1%) were treated with TCRC and 355 (54.9%) with LEEP. The incidences of positive margins, persistent and recurrent lesions, and intraoperative bleeding were lower in the TCRC group than in the LEEP group (P<0.001 for all comparisons). The rates of cervical adhesions were comparable between the two groups. During TCRC, 78 (26.7%) intrauterine lesions were diagnosed; most of these had been missed by transvaginal sonography.

CONCLUSION

TCRC may be an alternative method to LEEP in the treatment of HSIL. Compared with LEEP, TCRC has comparable clinical efficacy without additional adverse events. Moreover, TCRC is useful for detecting and/or removing intrauterine lesions during surgery.

The safety of fertility preservation for microinvasive cervical adenocarcinoma: a meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis

PURPOSE

This study sought to evaluate the safety of conservative treatment in the management of patients with microinvasive cervical adenocarcinoma.

METHODS

The PubMed, PMC, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane databases were searched to collect correlational studies published in English between January 1949 and May 2018. Series reports that evaluating the oncological prognoses of patients with microinvasive cervical adenocarcinoma who were treated with fertility-sparing surgery versus hysterectomy were pooled for meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 8 articles with 1256 patients were collected, including 7 retrospective reviews and 1 prospective study. Only one (0.08%) patient had parametrial involvement. Positive margins of surgical specimens were identified in 6 patients (2.2%). Lymph node metastasis was found in 5 patients (0.4%). The progression-free survival and overall survival rates were 99.3 and 98.2%. Fertility-sparing surgery had no adverse impact on recurrence or survival (P = 0.524 and 0.485, respectively). Regarding potential selection bias, significantly more patients with stage IA2 tumors than those with stage IA1 disease were treated with hysterectomy (P < 0.001). The trial sequential analysis indicated that the cumulative number of patients failed to meet the required sample size (number of patients).

CONCLUSIONS

The prognosis for patients with microinvasive cervical adenocarcinoma is excellent. Fertility preservation is at least appropriate for young women with stage IA1 adenocarcinoma. Further studies are still warranted to evaluate the safety of this procedure in managing patients with microinvasive cervical adenocarcinoma.