Adjuvant chemotherapy following surgery in the management of uterine sarcomas.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the use of imaging tools in the diagnosis of uterine sarcomas, and to evaluate the effect of the adjuvant chemotherapy for uterine sarcomas.


METHODS
The data of 29 patients with uterine sarcomas who received cytostatic polychemotherapy between 1990 and 2000 at the Oncological Division of the Ist Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Semmelweis University were evaluated by the authors. Symptoms leading to diagnosis and methods of diagnosis were examined. Vascular changes shown by two-dimensional, color and pulsed Doppler ultrasonography were observed. For staging the currently accepted FIGO method was adopted. Most of the patients underwent total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (TAH & BSO). In each case we administered adjuvant combination chemotherapy according to the CYVADIC-protocol. The effect of adjuvant chemotherapy was evaluated.


RESULTS
Six patients had Stage I, ten had Stage II, 11 had Stage III, and two had Stage IV disease. The mean age of the patients was 53.6 years with a range of 22 to 77 years. Histopathologic distribution included nine leiomyosarcomas (LMS), 13 mixed mesodermal sarcomas (MMS), and seven endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESS). Although most patients experienced neutropenia following cytotoxic chemotherapy, other non-hematologic adverse effects were easy to control. The average progression-free interval was 22.14 months, in which no significant difference was found between the histologic types. Different stages showed highly varied responses: surprisingly, patients in Stage IV with lung metastases were documented to have the longest progression-free survival. The three-year survival rate for all stages was demonstrated in 34.4% of cases. Patients with progressive disease had an average survival period of 4.4 months.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that adjuvant cytostatic therapy for patients with distant metastasis confined to a single organ may produce better results than expected.
Ist Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University Medical School, Budapest, Hungary.
A
A
Szánthó
J
J
Bálega
I
I
Szabó
A
A
Demeter
N
N
Sipos
Z
Z
Csapó
Z
Z
Papp
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003606:Dacarbazine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D014750:Vincristine / Q000008:administration & dosage
D014750:Vincristine; D003606:Dacarbazine; D004317:Doxorubicin; D003520:Cyclophosphamide