Port-site recurrence after laparoscopic surgery for endometrial carcinoma

Background: Women with endometrial carcinoma are being treated with laparoscopic surgery, but the risk of port-site recurrences remains undefined. Case: A 58-year-old woman underwent laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and laparoscopic lymphadenectomy for endometrial cancer. Final surgical stage was IA, with grade 2 histology. Twenty-one months later, she developed a 5-cm recurrent tumor mass at a lateral laparoscopic port site. The mass was resected, and a restaging laparotomy performed, without evidence of other metastases. Radiation therapy was administered to the involved anterior abdominal wall. Two and one half years later, there is no evidence of recurrence. Conclusion: An isolated laparoscopic port-site recurrence might be attributable to the initial laparoscopic management of an otherwise good-prognosis endometrial carcinoma. (Obstet Gynecol 1999;93:807-9. (C) 1999 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.).