A retrospective analysis was carried out to identify risk factors for survival and relapse in patients with FIGO stage I -IIB cervical adenocarcinoma (AC), who underwent radical hysterectomy, and to compare outcome and spread pattern with those of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). One hundred and twenty-three FIGO stage I -IIB patients with AC and 455 patients with SCC, who all underwent primary radical hysterectomy, were reviewed. Among the patients with AC, Cox model identified tumour size (95% CI: 1.35 -30.71) and node metastasis (95% CI: 5.09 -53.44) as independent prognostic factors for survival, and infiltration to vagina (95% CI: 1.15 -5.76) and node metastasis (95% CI: 6.39 -58.87) as independent prognostic factors for relapse. No significant difference was found in survival or relapse between the AC and SCC groups, after adjusting for other clinicopathological characteristics using Cox model. No significant difference was found in the positive rates of lymph nodes or location of initial failure sites between the two groups, but ovarian metastatic rate was significantly higher in patients with pathologic stage IIB AC (P ¼ 0.02). Positive node is a common independent prognostic factor for survival and relapse of patients with AC. FIGO stage I -IIB patients with AC or SCC, who underwent radical hysterectomy, have similar prognosis and spread pattern, but different ovarian metastasis rates. At present, standard treatment options for patients with invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix are as follows: radical hysterectomy followed by adjuvant radiotherapy or primary radiotherapy with concurrent cisplatin-containing chemotherapy, for the patients with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IB -IIA disease, with equivalent results; and primary radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy for the patients with FIGO stage IIB -IVA disease. These therapeutic strategies have been widely accepted. On the other hand, approximately 85% of the patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix have squamous lesions, and most of the remaining 10% have adenocarcinoma (AC) lesions (Benedet et al, 2003). To our knowledge, no practice guideline has referred to the treatment option based on the difference of histological types between AC and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) It is not clear whether these histological types influence outcome or spread pattern, and there is still controversy, as conflicting results have appeared in the literature because of potential limitations of small cohorts of patients with AC. The question whether standard treatment for patients with SCC is also suitable for patients with AC remains unanswered. Additionally, over the last decade, the proportion of AC relative to SCC has doubled, and the rate of AC per population at risk has also increased (Smith et al, 2000). To establish a framework for designing therapeutic strategies, the present retrospective study was undertaken firstly to clarify the clinicopathological features of the surgically treated patients with common typ...