A retrospective clinicopathological study of 131 cases with endometrial cancers - Is it possible to define the role of retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy in low-resource settings.

AIM: The study objectives were evaluation of clinicopathological characteristics, correlations between the preoperative and postoperative tumor grades, and their implications on lymph node metastasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of 131 cases of endometrial cancer examined and treated at a tertiary regional cancer institute between the years 2003 and 2009. We reviewed the oncology database as well as the clinical records and surgico‑pathological registry of all these patients. STATISTICAL METHODS USED: All the summary measure computation and Chi‑square test for comparing more than one proportion was done in spreadsheet (Excel). RESULTS: The multiparity association with endometrial cancer was commonly seen 113/131 (86.2%). Twelve (9.7%) patients preoperatively diagnosed as Grade 1 tumors upgraded to Grade 3 changes in postoperative specimens and six of these 12 patients (50%) had lymph node metastasis. A total of 14/131 (10.6%) cases had lymph nodes metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: There is a poor correlation between the preoperative and the postoperative tumor grades. Routine pelvic lymphadenectomy may be a valuable method in low‑risk cases and para‑aortic lymphadenectomy may be limited to high‑risk endometrial cancers.