Long-term follow-up after laparoscopic management of endometrial cancer: a 15-year cohort study

The objective of this study was to evaluate longterm oncological outcomes of laparoscopic management of endometrial carcinoma (EC) in a large series of consecutive patients from two referral cancer centres. The study is a large retrospective study with 15-year follow-up. The clinical records of 207 consecutive women with clinical stage I EC managed by laparoscopy between 1990 and 2005 were reviewed. Laparoscopy included peritoneal washing, inspection of abdominal cavity, total laparoscopic hysterectomy + bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and pelvic/para-aortic lymphadenectomy depending on the preoperative histology or frozen section results. Data collected included conversion rate, operative time, hospital stay, surgical complications, FIGO 1988 stage and 5-year survival. Laparoscopic procedures were converted to laparotomy in nine (4.3%) cases. Mean operative time was 173.2 min (70–300 min). Mean hospital stay was 5 days. The mean number of lymph nodes removed was 10 (2–25). Lymphadenectomy was considered not feasible in 20 cases (12.9%) due to technical difficulties. Intraoperative and postoperative complications were seen in 11 (5.6%) and 13 (6.6%) women, respectively. Histopathological results led to upstaging in 11.6% of cases. After a mean follow-up of 74.8 months (14–204 months), 5-year causespecific and disease-free survival rates were 93.2% and 89.3%, respectively. Twenty-one (10.6%) patients developed recurrences. No port site metastases were identified. Laparoscopic management of EC is feasible, reproducible and does not worsen patient prognosis. It allows comprehensive surgical staging and the option of lymphadenectomy in a single surgical procedure without compromising the oncological radicality required. Our results show minimal morbidity and similar long-term outcomes than those obtained by laparotomy in the literature.