Objective The aim of this study is to analyze the prognostic role of lymph-vascular space invasion (LVSI), evaluated in a semi-quantitative fashion on prognosis of early stage, low risk endometrial cancer (EC). Methods We enrolled patients who underwent surgery for endometrial cancer between 2003 and 2018 in two referral cancer center. All patients had endometrioid EC, G1–G2, with myometrial invasion <50%, and no lymph-node involvement. LVSI was analyzed in a semi-quantitative way, according to a 3-tiered scoring system in absent, focal and substantial. Results Among 524 patients, any positive LVSI was found in 57 patients (10.9%) with focal LVSI (n=35, 6.7%) and substantial LVSI (n=22, 4.2%). Substantial LVSI was associated to higher rate of G2 (p<0.001), myometrial infiltration (p=0.002) and greater tumor dimensions (p=0.014). Patients with substantial LVSI were more likely to receive adjuvant treatment (6.6% vs. 52.6%, p<0.001). The 5-year OS was 99.5% in patients with absent LVSI and 70.6% in those with substantial LVSI (p<0.001). The 5-year disease free survival (DFS) was 93.6% in patients with absent LVSI and 56.5% in those with substantial LVSI (p<0.001). The rate of distant failures increased from 1.8% for absent LVSI to 22.7% for substantial LVSI (p=0.002). In univariate analysis substantial LVSI was the strongest predictor of poor overall survival (hazard ratio [HR]=11.9, p=0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that substantial LVSI was an independent predictive factor of both recurrence (HR=5.88, p=0.001) and distant failure (HR=10.6, p=0.006). Conclusions Substantial LVSI represents the strongest independent risk factor for decreased survival and distant relapse, indicating a role for potential hematogenous dissemination.

IntroductionThe objective of this study was to compared standard ultra-staging (SU) with one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) for the detection of sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis in women with apparent uterine-confined endometrial cancer.MethodsAll women underwent SLN identification with complete surgical staging. All SLNs were cut perpendicular to the long axis and two adjacent 5 µm sections were cut at each of two levels 50 µm apart. At each level, one slide was stained with hematoxylin and eosin and the other with immunohistochemistry using the AE1/AE3 anti-cytokeratin antibody, as well as one negative control slide for a total of five slides per block. For OSNA analysis, the 2 mm sections of the lymph nodes were homogenized to form a lysate. The lysate was then centrifuged and inserted into the RD 100i instrument where the isothermal amplification of CK19 mRNA was executed.ResultsOf the 396 patients included in the retrospective analysis, 214 were in the SU group, and 182 in the OSNA group. Overall 869 SLNs were identified (490 SU, 379 OSNA). Sixty patients exhibited SLN metastasis (34 SU, 26 OSNA). Macrometastasis, micrometastases, and isolated tumor cells (ITC) were 5.1%, 4.1%, and 0.2%, respectively, in the US group, and 2.4%, 6.3%, and 0.1%, respectively, in the OSNA group (p=0.022).ConclusionsThe OSNA assay detected a higher rate of micrometastasis and a lower rate of macrometastasis and ITC when compared with SU. The clinical and prognostic impact of ITC is debatable and controversial. Further studies are needed to clarify the respective roles of the OSNA and SU methods, and the possible role of ITC in the prognosis of patients with apparent early-stage endometrial cancer.

BackgroundSentinel node mapping has been proposed to reduce surgical side effects, maintaining the accuracy in nodal status assessment for endometrial cancer.ObjectiveTo investigate the role of one-step nucleic acid amplification assay (OSNA) analysis, in the intra-operative tailoring of full nodal dissection, and to analyze the correlation between the type of sentinel node metastasis and the risk of non-sentinel node metastasis.MethodsSurgical and pathological data were collected from 141 consecutive, clinical stage I patients with endometrial cancer undergoing surgical staging. Patients were excluded if they had previous pelvic or abdominal radiotherapy, chemotherapy, abdominal cancer, pelvic or abdominal lymphadenectomy, or contraindications to indocyanine green. All sentinel nodes were analyzed by OSNA, and full lymphadenectomy was performed in positive cases. Statistical analysis was performed using Χ2 and Fisher's exact test to determine whether any of these characteristics could accurately predict the non-sentinel nodes status in positive sentinel node patients.ResultsA total of 141 patients were included in the analysis. Bilateral sentinel nodes were identified in 104 (73.8%) patients, with a median number of 2 (range 2–6) sentinel nodes per patient. In the remaining 37 patients (26.2%), a unilateral sentinel node was obtained, with a median of 1 (range 1–3) sentinel node per patient. Thirty-three (12.0%) positive nodes were found in 24 (17.0%) patients: micro-metastases and macro-metastases were detected in 22 and 2 patients, respectively. At final pathology, all patients with positive non-sentinel nodes had macro-metastases in the sentinel node, whereas in micro-metastatic sentinel nodes no other positive nodes were found at full lymphadenectomy (p<0.001).ConclusionsOur results showed a correlation between the type of metastasis in the sentinel lymph node (SLN) and the incidence of positive non-SLNs. These data suggest a potential role of OSNA analysis in the surgical tailoring of patients with early endometrial cancer, with the goal of definitive risk stratification and a better individualization of adjuvant therapy.

Background: The aims of the present study were to assess bilateral sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping with laparoscopic versus robotic approach, to assess variables affecting bilateral detection rates and to assess survival difference in patients with no/unilateral, compared to bilateral SLN detection. Methods: This is a retrospective, single-centre, observational cohort study, including patients with endometrial cancer FIGO stage IA-IVB, treated with minimally invasive primary surgery and undergoing indocyanine green (ICG) injection to detect SLN, between January 2015 and December 2019. Results: Of the 549 included patients, 286 (52.1%) and 263 (47.9%) underwent the laparoscopic and robotic approach respectively. 387 (70.5%) patients had bilateral SLN mapping, 102 (18.6%) and 60 (10.9%) had unilateral and no mapping, respectively. Patients who underwent the robotic approach were older (median 61 versus 64 years, p=0.046) and had a higher BMI (median 26.0 versus 34.8 kg/m2, p<0.001). No difference in any SLN mapping or in SLN bilateral detection was evident between the laparoscopic or robotic approach (p=0.892 and p=0.507 respectively). Patients with bilateral SLN detection in the entire cohort were younger (p<0.001) and had a better 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) compared to patients with no/unilateral SLN mapping (77.0% versus 66.3%, respectively, p=0.036). No 3-year overall survival (OS) difference was reported (p=0.491). Conclusion: SLN mapping and bilateral SLN detection with ICG in endometrial cancer was not different in the laparoscopic and robotic approach, even though patients undergoing the robotic approach were older and more obese. Bilateral SLN detection was associated with improved 3-year DFS, but not with 3-year OS, compared to no and unilateral SLN detection.

Background: Endometrial cancer is the most common gynaecological tumour in developed countries. The overall rate of relapse has remained unchanged in recent decades. Recurrences occur in approximately 20% of endometrioid and 50% of non-endometrioid cases. The aim of this systematic review is to compare different therapeutic strategies in the treatment of endometrial cancer recurrence to evaluate their prognostic and curative effects based on site and type of recurrence. Methods: This systematic review of literature was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The study protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020154042). PubMed, Embase, Chocrane and Cinahl databases were searched from January 1995 to September 2021. Five retrospective studies were selected. Results: A total of 3571 studies were included in the initial search. Applying the screening criteria, 299 articles were considered eligible for full-text reading, of which, after applying the exclusion criteria, 4 studies were selected for the final analysis and included in the systematic review. No studies were included for a quantitative analysis. We divided the results according to the location of the recurrence: locoregional recurrence, abdominal recurrence and extra abdominal recurrence. Conclusion: the treatment of choice should be assessed according to the relapse location and to the presence of single or multiple lesions. A crucial role in the decision-making algorithm is also the type of adjuvant treatment received at the time of the first diagnosis.