Surgical management of invasive carcinoma of the vulva. A retrospective analysis and review.

PURPOSE: A retrospective study aiming to assess the survival rate, recurrence rate and complications of patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva. METHODS: 91 patients with invasive carcinoma of the vulva were included in the study. The following clinical factors were assessed: clinical stage, diameter of lesion, and degree of tumor differentiation. The Kaplan-Meier estimate for statistical analysis of survival was used. RESULTS: Surgery was primary treatment for 76 patients. The 5-year survival for FIGO Stage I was 93.3%, Stage II 85%, Stage III 51% and for Stage IV it was zero as estimated by the Kaplan-Meier test. Of the 52 women who underwent inguinal lymphadenectomy, 11 or 21.1% had positive nodes and four patients underwent pelvic node resection. Patients with tumor size < or = 2 cm had 16.7% positive inguinal nodes, while patients with tumor size > 2.1 cm had 29.4% of positive nodes. CONCLUSIONS: The right choice of surgical treatment after appropriate staging of the disease offers very good survival rates, while a more accurate assessment of the status of inguinal lymph nodes could reduce the extent of surgical treatment.

Vulvar cancer: prognostic significance of the clinicopathological characteristics.

Vulvar cancer is a relatively uncommon neoplasm of the female reproductive system. The aim of this retrospective study was the analysis of the pathologic and clinical characteristics of vulvar cancer and their prognostic significance. During the period January 1996 to December 2005, 82 patients were treated for a vulvar malignancy. The management was surgical.