Prognosis and clinicopathological characteristics of Ib-IIb adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix in patients who have had radical hysterectomy

Aims: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the outcome of patients with stage Ib-IIb cervical adenocarcinoma treated with radical hysterectomy, and to determine the clinicopathological characteristics of those patients. Methods: A total of 255 patients with cervical carcinoma stage Ib-IIb (57 adenocarcinoma and 198 squamous cell carcinoma) who had undergone radical hysterectomy were included in this study. Patient survival distribution was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: The estimated 5-year survival rate for patients with adenocarcinoma was significantly poorer than that for patients with squamous cell carcinoma (77.9% vs 91.7%). The survival rate in stage Ib patients did not differ between two groups (95.8% vs 94.4% respectively). The incidence of lymph node involvement was significantly higher in patients with adenocarcinoma than in those with squamous cell carcinoma (31.6% vs 14.8%). Among patients receiving post-operative radiotherapy, the survival rate for adenocarcinoma (71.1%) was significantly poorer than that for squamous cell carcinoma (90.0%). When patients underwent radical hysterectomy, the survival rate for stage II patients with adenocarcinoma was significantly poorer than that for patients with squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusions: The higher incidence of lymphnode involvement and lower response to post-operative radiotherapy are considered to be factors of poorer prognosis in cervical adenocarcinoma. (C) 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.