Prognostic value of histopathology in cervical cancer patients

Abstract

Summary Cervical cancer is the sixth cause of cancer morbidity and the seventh cause of cancer death among women in Poland. The rising tendency of cervical adenocarcinoma morbidity and the decrease of cervical squamous cell carcinoma have been observed. Many authors emphasize the worse outcome of cervical adenocarcinoma patients, when compared with the squamous cell cancer. Objectives: The assessment of prognostic value of histopathology in cervical cancer patients. Material and methods: The retrospective analysis of 142 cervical adenocarcinoma and 242 squamous cell cancer patients, treated between January 1989 and December 1999, at Gynecological Oncology Department of Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center in Warsaw, has been performed. In each case, the clinical diagnosis was histologically confirmed. All patients were treated with surgery and/or radiotherapy. The above methods were used as the routine therapeutic modalities, during the analyzed period. The analysis of the overall survival (OS) and the disease-free survival (DFS), in dependence on the selected clinico - pathological factors, was performed. Results: The percentage of the 5-year OS for cervical adenocarcinoma patients amounted to 45.0%, whereas for squamous cell cancer to 62.5%. The difference was statistically significant (p=0.05). In spite of higher percentage of cervical adenocarcinoma, diagnosed at early stage, when compared with squamous cell cancer, the outcome of the whole adenocarcinoma group was worse. Conclusions: Regardless of the other clinico-pathological factors, adenocarcinoma was associated with poorer survival. Identification of women who are at risk and different treatment modalities for both types of tumor should be the subject of future studies.