| Contributors: |
Buda, A; Paniga, C; Taskin, S; Mueller, M; Zapardiel, I; Fanfani, F; Puppo, A; Casarin, J; Papadia, A; De Ponti, E; Grassi, T; Mauro, J; Turan, H; Vatansever, D; Gungor, M; Ortag, F; Imboden, S; Garcia-Pineda, V; Mohr, S; Siegenthaler, F; Perotto, S; Landoni, F; Ghezzi, F; Scambia, G; Taskiran, C; Fruscio, R |
| Description: |
The aim of this study was to assess the impact of low-volume metastasis (LVM) on disease-free survival (DFS) in women with apparent early-stage endometrial cancer (EC) who underwent sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping. Patients with pre-operative early-stage EC were retrospectively collected from an international collaboration including 13 referring institutions. A total of 1428 patients were included in this analysis. One hundred and eighty-six patients (13%) had lymph node involvement. Fifty-nine percent of positive SLN exhibited micrometastases, 26.9% micrometastases, and 14% isolated tumor cells. Seventeen patients with positive lymph nodes did not receive any adjuvant therapy. At a median follow-up of 33.3 months, the disease had recurred in 114 women (8%). Patients with micrometastases in the lymph nodes had a worse prognosis of disease-free survival compared to patients with negative nodes or LVM. The rate of recurrence was significantly higher for women with micrometastases than those with low-volume metastases (HR = 2.61; p = 0.01). The administration of adjuvant treatment in patients with LVM, without uterine risk factors, remains a matter of debate and requires further evaluation. |