Risk factors for recurrence and prognosis of low-grade endometrial adenocarcinoma; Vaginal versus other sites

Endometrial adenocarcinoma is the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States. The prognosis is generally favorable, however, a significant number of patients do develop local or distant recurrence. The most common site of recurrence is vaginal. Our aim was to better characterize patients with vaginal recurrence of low-grade endometrioid adenocarcinoma with respect to associated tumor parameters and clinical outcome. We compiled 255 cases of low-grade (FIGO Grade I or II) endometrioid adenocarcinoma on hysterectomy specimens with lymph node dissection. A total of 113 cases with positive lymph nodes or recurrent disease were included in our study group. Seventy-three cases (13 Grade 1, 60 Grade 2) developed extravaginal recurrence and 40 cases (7 Grade 1, 33 Grade 2) developed vaginal recurrence. We evaluated numerous tumor parameters including: percentage myoinvasion, presence of microcystic, elongated, and fragmented pattern of myoinvasion, lymphovascular space invasion, and cervical involvement. Clinical follow-up showed that 30% (34/113) of all patients with recurrent disease died as a result of their disease during our follow-up period, including 31 (42.5%) with extravaginal recurrence and 3 (7.5%) with primary vaginal recurrence (P=0.001). The 3 patients with vaginal recurrence developed subsequent extravaginal recurrence before death. Vaginal recurrence patients show increased cervical involvement by tumor, but lack other risk factors associated with recurrent disease at other sites. There were no deaths among patients with isolated vaginal recurrence, suggesting that vaginal recurrence is not a marker of aggressive tumor biology.