title: Adjuvant chemotherapy in early stage uterine sarcomas: an open question.
abstract: Uterine sarcomas are aggressive gynecological cancers even at early stage of disease. The most common histological types are represented by leiomyosarcoma, endometrial stromal sarcoma, and carcinosarcoma. The mainstay of treatment of stage I-II disease is total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Adjuvant radiotherapy may decrease local recurrence rates without any significant impact on survival. Adjuvant chemotherapy is a logical approach, since distant recurrences are more frequent than local failures. The chemotherapy regimens commonly used in advanced uterine sarcomas are similar to the ones for advanced soft tissue sarcomas, with anthracyclines and ifosfamide as the most active drugs. However, carcinosarcomas respond better to cisplatin-based regimens. It is advisable to design international cooperative randomized trials with the aim of defining the role of adjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of early stage uterine sarcomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Procreative Medicine, Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gadducci
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romanini
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents