Retrospective analysis for predictors of parametrial involvement in IB cervical cancer

Which factors predict parametrial involvement in stage IB cervical cancer? A Chinese multicentre study

OBJECTIVE

To explore the clinicopathological risk factors influencing parametrial involvement (PI) in stage IB cervical cancer patients and compare the oncological outcomes between Q-M type B radical hysterectomy (RH) group and Q-M type C RH group.

METHODS

Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to explore the clinicopathological factors related to PI. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with stage IB cervical cancer who underwent Q-M type B or Q-M type C RH under different circumstances of PI were also compared before and after propensity score matching (1:1 matching).

RESULTS

A total of 6358 patients were enrolled in this study. Depth of stromal invasion>1/2 (HR: 3.139, 95% CI: 1.550-6.360; P = 0.001), vaginal margin (+) (HR: 4.271, 95% CI: 1.368-13.156; P = 0.011), lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) (+) (HR: 2.238, 95% CI: 1.353-3.701; P = 0.002) and lymph node metastases (HR: 5.173, 95% CI: 3.091-8.658; P < 0.001) were associated with PI. Among the 6273 patients with negative PI, those in the Q-M type B RH group had a higher 5-year OS and DFS than those in the Q-M type C RH group before and after 1:1 matching. Among the 85 patients with positive PI, Q-M type C RH showed no survival benefits before and after 1:1 matching.

CONCLUSION

Stage IB cervical cancer patients with no lymph node metastasis, LVSI(-) and depth of stromal invasion ≤1/2 may be considered for Q-M type B radical hysterectomy.

Study on the preoperative value of serum SCC-Ag in predicting the stromal invasion of cervical squamous cell carcinoma

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the preoperative value of serum SCC-Ag in predicting the stromal invasion of cervical squamous cell carcinoma.

METHODS

This study retrospectively analyzed 78 patients with early cervical squamous cell carcinoma who underwent surgery as initial treatment at the Senior Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Seventh Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from January 2018 to September 2022 was implemented. The clinicopathological characteristics were statistically compared. The ROC curve was drawn to determine the optimal critical level of  preoperative serum SCC-Ag value for predicting cervical stromal invasion.

RESULTS

The depth of myometrial invasion was not related to the age of diagnosis and HPV infection (p > 0.05), while it was related to tumor size, staging, tissue differentiation, LVSI, lymph node metastasis (LNM) and preoperative serum SCC-Ag value (p < 0.05).The area under the curve (AUC) of serum SCC-Ag value was 0.894 (p = 0.000, 95% CI 0.824-0.964), and preoperative serum SCC-Ag value 1.65 ng/ml was the best cutoff for predicting cervical stromal invasion in cervical squamous cell carcinoma. The sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis were 92.3% and 78.8%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

If the preoperative serum SCC-Ag leval more than 1.65 ng/ml in patients with cervical squamous cell carcinoma, the risk of cervical stromal invasion will increase, which can provide a reference for clinical treatment.

Development of a nomogram for predicting pelvic lymph node metastasis in cervical squamous cell carcinoma

OBJECTIVE

To develop and validate a nomogram for predicting pelvic lymph node metastasis (LNM) in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

METHODS

This was a retrospective study that included 715 patients with cervical SCC who underwent radical hysterectomy and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy between 2009 and 2018. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors for pelvic LNM. Based on these risk factors, a nomogram predicting LNM risk was constructed and internally validated using the bootstrapping resampling method.

RESULTS

The rate of LNM in FIGO (the International Federation of Gynecology & Obstetrics) Stage IA2-IIA2 cervical SCC was 24.2%. In multivariate analysis, FIGO Stage II, moderately differentiated or poorly differentiated histology, abnormally elevated serum SCC-antigen, and triglyceride were identified as independent risk factors for LNM. Tumor size greater than 2 cm and parametrial involvement had borderline significance. Ultimately, the nomogram contained the six variables mentioned above, showing positive calibration and positive discrimination. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curvewas 0.827 and the bootstrap-validated C-index was 0.827. The Youden index of this paper was 0.540.

CONCLUSIONS

We developed and validated a nomogram to predict pelvic LNM in SCC based on clinical data, which can help physicians develop an optimal treatment strategy.

A novel prognostic nomogram utilizing the 2018 FIGO staging system for cervical cancer: A large multicenter study

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the prognostic performance of the revised 2018 FIGO staging system for cervical cancer.

METHODS

This retrospective multicenter study enrolled cervical cancer patients with 2009 FIGO Stage IA1-IIA2 who underwent surgeries between January 2006 and December 2017 in four tertiary hospitals. Patients were restaged according to the 2018 FIGO staging system by reviewing their medical data.

RESULTS

Of 3238 cervical cancer patients included, 1841 (56.9%) patients were restaged: 641 (34.9%) due to tumor size, 544 (29.5%) due to lymph node metastasis, 614 (33.4%) due to the inconsistency between pre- and postoperative assessments, and 42 due to the cancellation of invasion width in Stage IA. After restaging, a clear tendency of decreased recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) with increasing stage was observed. Multivariate Cox analysis showed that 2018 FIGO stage, parametrial involvement, and histology were independent prognostic factors for both OS and RFS (P < 0.05). Based on these factors, we established predictive nomograms with c-indexes of 0.735 and 0.721, showing good predictive ability for cervical cancer.

CONCLUSION

The revised 2018 FIGO staging system can better reflect the survival of cervical cancer patients. Based on it, we established a nomogram that can predict the prognosis of cervical cancer patients more precisely.

Morphological Characteristics and Clinical Significance of Different Types of Tumor Vessels in Patients with Stages I-IIA of Squamous Cervical Cancer

The determination of factors associated with progression of cervical cancer is important, both for a recurrence risk assessment and for determining optimal treatment tactics. Previously, we showed the prognostic value of different types of tumor microvessels (MVs) in gastric and breast cancer. The object of this research was to study the morphology and clinical significance of different tumor microvessels in early cervical cancer. A total of 65 archived paraffin blocks of patients with I-IIA stages of squamous cervical cancer were investigated. Samples were stained with Mayer hematoxylin and immunohistochemically using antibodies to CD34, podoplanin, HIF-1a, and Snail. The eight types of tumor MVs differed in morphology were identified. It was established that only the dilated capillaries (DСs) with weak expression of CD34, the contact type DCs, the capillaries in tumor solid component, and the lymphatic vessels in the lymphoid and polymorphic cell infiltrates of tumor stroma are associated with clinical and pathological characteristics of early cervical cancer. Preliminary results also suggest that a combination of fragmentation in tumor solid component and the contact type DCs may predict a recurrence of early cervical cancer. Given the small number of cervical cancer recurrences, the predictive significance of the described markers requires a more thorough examination.

Prognostic Performance of the 2018 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Cervical Cancer Staging Guidelines

OBJECTIVE

To examine the prognostic performance of the revised 2018 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) cervical cancer staging schema.

METHODS

We used the National Cancer Database to identify women with cervical cancer diagnosed from 2004 to 2015. Using clinical and pathologic data, each patient's stage was classified using three staging schemas: American Joint Committee on Cancer 7th edition, FIGO 2009 and FIGO 2018. The FIGO 2018 revised staging classifies stage IB tumors into three substages based on tumor size (IB1-IB3) and classifies patients with positive lymph nodes (pathologically or clinically detected) as stage IIIC1 (positive pelvic nodes) or IIIC2 (positive para-aortic nodes). Five-year survival rates were estimated for each stage grouping. We sought to determine whether the 2018 FIGO staging system was able to offer improved 5-year survival rate differentiation compared with older staging schemas.

RESULTS

A total of 62,212 women were identified. The classification of stage IB tumors into three substages improved discriminatory ability. Five-year survival in the FIGO 2018 schema was 91.6% (95% CI 90.4-92.6%) for stage IB1 tumors, 83.3% (95% CI 81.8-84.8%) for stage IB2 neoplasms, and 76.1% (95% CI 74.3-77.8%) for IB3 lesions. In contrast, for women with stage III tumors, higher FIGO staging was not consistently associated with worse 5-year survival rates: stage IIIA (40.7%, 95 CI 37.1-44.3%), stage IIIB (41.4%; 95% CI 39.9-42.9%), stage IIIC1 (positive pelvic nodes) was 60.8% (95% CI 58.7-62.8%) and stage IIIC2 37.5% (95% CI 33.3-41.7%).

CONCLUSION

The FIGO 2018 staging schema provides improved discriminatory ability for women with stage IB tumors; however, classification of all women with positive lymph nodes into a single stage results in a very heterogeneous group of patients with highly variable survival rates.