Prognostic factors and outcome in women with uterine sarcoma

Objectives A retrospective analysis of patients with uterine sarcoma was undertaken to assess prognostic factors and treatment related outcomes. Patients and methods Ninety-four patients (median age: 60 years, range: 20–93 years) with a histologically verified uterine sarcoma treated at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) between 1989 and 2004 were identified from the tumor registry and pathology database. Results Twenty-eight patients had an endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS), 30 had a leiomyosarcoma (LMS), and 36 had mixed muellerian tumors (MMT). According to FIGO classification, Stage I, II, III, and IV tumors were identified in 49, 7, 20, and 18 patients, respectively. At the time of analysis, 55.5% of patients (52/94) were dead due to progressive sarcoma disease; 8.5% of the patients (8/94) were alive with disease recurrence, and 36.2% (34/94) were alive without disease recurrence, with a median survival of 35 months. Univariate analysis demonstrated a statistically significant association between overall survival and histology in favor of patients with ESS (p < 0.001). Analyzing each of the histological subtypes separately, adjuvant treatment with chemotherapy and/or hormonal treatment had no demonstrable impact on overall survival. In multivariate analysis age and advanced stage, remained a significant predictor for overall survival in patients with LMS and MMT, but not in patients with ESS. Regarding adjuvant treatment, radiotherapy had a significant impact on overall survival only in patients with MMT (p = 0.002). Conclusions In patients with uterine sarcoma, in comparison to LMS and MMT, ESS tends to present as a less aggressive disease with a favorable outcome. Furthermore, reflected by an improved overall survival after radiotherapy only in patients with MMT, it seems to be mandatory to differentiate between these histological subtypes.