OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the opinions of women who underwent surgery for cervical cancer (CC) and physicians who treat CC about the acceptability of increased oncological risk after less-radical surgery. METHODS: One hundred eighty-two women who underwent surgery for CC and 101 physicians participated in a structured survey in 3 tertiary cancer centers in Czech Republic and Turkey. Patients and physicians were asked whether they would accept any additional oncological risks, which would be attributable to the omission of parametrectomy (radical hysterectomy/trachelectomy vs. simple hysterectomy/trachelectomy) or pelvic lymph node dissection (systematic resection vs. sentinel lymph node sampling). RESULTS: Although 52.2% of patients reported morbidity related to their previous treatment, the majority of patients would not accept less-radical surgical treatment if it was associated with any increased risk of recurrence (50%–55%, no risk; 17%–24%, risk < 0.1%). Physicians tended to accept a significantly higher risk than patients in the Czech Republic, but not in Turkey. Patients with higher education levels, more advanced-stage of disease, or adverse events related to previous cancer treatment, and patients who received adjuvant therapy were significantly more likely to accept an increased oncological risk. CONCLUSION: Patients, even if they suffered from morbidity related to previous CC treatment, do not want to choose between oncological safety and a better quality of life. Physicians tend to accept the higher oncological risk associated with less-radical surgical procedures, but attitudes differ regionally. Professionals should be aware of this tendency when counselling the patients before less-radical surgery.
Czech Republic ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; Quality of Life ; Recurrence ; Turkey ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare clinicopathologic characteristics, surgery outcomes and survival outcomes of patients with stage III and IV mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer (mEOC) and serous epithelial ovarian carcinoma (sEOC). METHODS: Patients who had surgery for advanced stage (III or IV) mEOC were evaluated retrospectively and defined as the study group. Women with sEOC who were matched for age and stage of disease were randomly chosen from the database and defined as the control group. The baseline disease characteristics of patients and platinum-based chemotherapy efficacy (response rate, progression-free survival and overall survival [OS]) were compared. RESULTS: A total of 138 women were included in the study: 50 women in the mEOC group and 88 in the sEOC group. Patients in the mEOC group had significantly less grade 3 tumors and CA-125 levels and higher rate of para-aortic and pelvic lymph node metastasis. Patients in the mEOC group had significantly less platinum sensitive disease (57.9% vs. 70.8%; p=0.03) and had significantly poorer OS outcome when compared to the sEOC group (p=0.001). The risk of death for mEOC patients was significantly higher than for sEOC patients (hazard ratio, 2.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.34 to 3.42). CONCLUSION: Advanced stage mEOC patients have more platinum resistance disease and poorer survival outcome when compared to advanced stage sEOC. Therefore, novel chemotherapy strategies are warranted to improve survival outcome in patients with mEOC.
Case-Control Studies ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Mucins ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Platinum ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of lymph node ratio (LNR) in women with stage IIIC endometrioid endometrial cancer (EC). METHODS: A multicenter, retrospective department database review was performed to identify patients with stage IIIC pure endometrioid EC at 6 gynecologic oncology centers in Turkey. A total of 207 women were included. LNR, defined as the percentage of positive lymph nodes (LNs) to total nodes recovered, was stratified into 2 groups: LNR1 (≤0.15), and LNR2 (>0.15). Kaplan-Meier method was used to generate survival data. Factors predictive of outcome were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: One hundred and one (48.8%) were classified as stage IIIC1 and 106 (51.2%) as stage IIIC2. The median age at diagnosis was 58 (range, 30–82) and the median duration of follow-up was 40 months (range, 1–228 months). There were 167 (80.7%) women with LNR ≤0.15, and 40 (19.3%) women with LNR >0.15. The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rates for LNR ≤0.15 and LNR >0.15 were 76.1%, and 58.5%, respectively (p=0.045). An increased LNR was associated with a decrease in 5-year overall survival (OS) from 87.0% for LNR ≤0.15 to 62.3% for LNR >0.15 (p=0.005). LNR >0.15 was found to be an independent prognostic factor for both PFS (hazard ratio [HR]=2.05; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.07–3.93; p=0.03) and OS (HR=3.35; 95% CI=1.57–7.19; p=0.002). CONCLUSION: LNR seems to be an independent prognostic factor for decreased PFS and OS in stage IIIC pure endometrioid EC.
Carcinoma, Endometrioid ; Diagnosis ; Disease-Free Survival ; Endometrial Neoplasms* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes* ; Methods ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Turkey

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prognosis of surgically-staged non-invasive uterine clear cell carcinoma (UCCC), and to determine the role of adjuvant therapy. METHODS: A multicenter, retrospective department database review was performed to identify patients with UCCC who underwent surgical treatment between 1997 and 2016 at 8 Gynecologic Oncology Centers. Demographic, clinicopathological, and survival data were collected. RESULTS: A total of 232 women with UCCC were identified. Of these, 53 (22.8%) had surgically-staged non-invasive UCCC. Twelve patients (22.6%) were upstaged at surgical assessment, including a 5.6% rate of lymphatic dissemination (3/53). Of those, 1 had stage IIIA, 1 had stage IIIC1, 1 had stage IIIC2, and 9 had stage IVB disease. Of the 9 women with stage IVB disease, 5 had isolated omental involvement indicating omentum as the most common metastatic site. UCCC limited only to the endometrium with no extra-uterine disease was confirmed in 41 women (73.3%) after surgical staging. Of those, 13 women (32%) were observed without adjuvant treatment whereas 28 patients (68%) underwent adjuvant therapy. The 5-year disease-free survival rates for patients with and without adjuvant treatment were 100.0% vs. 74.1%, respectively (p=0.060). CONCLUSION: Extra-uterine disease may occur in the absence of myometrial invasion (MMI), therefore comprehensive surgical staging including omentectomy should be the standard of care for women with UCCC regardless of the depth of MMI. Larger cohorts are needed in order to clarify the necessity of adjuvant treatment for women with UCCC truly confined to the endometrium.
Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cohort Studies ; Disease-Free Survival ; Endometrium ; Female ; Humans ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Omentum ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Standard of Care ; Uterine Diseases