Lymphovascular space invasion, a prognostic marker for disease recurrence in patients with early endometrioid endometrial cancer
Seung Hyun Lee, Jung-Woo Park, Myeongsuk Han, Yeon Jin Cho
Aim of the study: To evaluate the clinicopathologic factors of early International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I–II endometrioid endometrial cancer in a single institution and to emphasize factors contributing to recurrence. Material and methods: We selected several clinicopathologic factors including age, height, body weight, body mass index, cancer antigen-125, FIGO tumor grade, myometrial invasion, lymphovascular space invasion, estrogen receptor/ progesterone receptor status, and adjuvant radiation therapy or systemic chemotherapy. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard model and Kaplan–Meier estimates were used for analyzing all clinicopathologic factors related to the risk of disease recurrence. Results: The median age was 55.05 years, and the median follow-up time was 35 months. Eleven patients (11%) showed disease recurrence, 3 patients – distant, and 8 patients – local metastasis. In univariate analysis, tumor grade (P = 0.0045) and lymphovascular space invasion (P = 0.0374) were associated with disease recurrence. Multivariate analysis demonstrated an association between any type of recurrence and lymphovascular space invasion (hazard ratio, HR, 6.308; 95% confidence interval, CI 1.851–11.484). Conclusions: Our study showed that the presence of lymphovascular space invasion is an important factor for disease recurrence in early endometrial cancer. Therefore, adjuvant systemic chemotherapy may be considered in patients with early endometrial cancer with lymphovascular space invasion.