Uterine sarcoma: prognostic factors and treatment evaluation.

BACKGROUND Uterine sarcoma constitutes a highly malignant group of uterine tumors. It accounts for 2-6% of uterine malignancies and its incidence is 1.7 in 100,000 women. The three most common variants of uterine sarcoma are endometrial stromal sarcoma, leiomyosarcoma and carcinosarcoma. Based on relatively small case series, the literature provides little information on the risk factors, the natural course of the disease and the preferred treatment. OBJECTIVES To evaluate uterine sarcoma patients treated in a tertiary referral center in Israel over a 20 year period (1980-2005). METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of the charts of 40 uterine sarcoma patients, including their tumor characteristics, stage at diagnosis, treatment modalities, follow-up and survival. RESULTS The patients' mean age was 53 years (range 32-76); 30% of the patients had carcinosarcoma, 55% had leiomyosarcoma and 15% had ESS. Half of the patients presented with stage I disease, 23% stage II, 10% stage III and 15% stage IV. Thirty-nine patients were treated with surgery. Adjuvant radiotherapy was administered to 39% of the patients, adjuvant chemotherapy to 21% and combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy to 9%. The mean follow-up period was 44 months, at which time disease had recurred in 44% of the patients. The disease stage was correlated with the 5-year survival rate, which was 73.1% for stages I-II and 22.2% for stages III- IV. CONCLUSIONS In accordance with other larger studies our data show that the only prognostic factor that was significantly correlated with prognosis was the stage of the disease at diagnosis. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, survival has not improved over the last 25 years.