Influence of Prognostic Factors on Lymph Node Involvement in Endometrial Cancer: A Single-Center Experience

A meta-analysis of the effect of pelvic and para-aortic lymph node dissection on the prognosis of patients with endometrial cancer

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the second most common malignant tumor of the female reproductive system, and it occurs in the peri- and post-menopausal periods. The metastasis routes of EC include direct spread, hematogenous metastasis and lymph node metastasis. Symptoms such as vaginal discharge or irregular vaginal bleeding may occur in the early stage. The pathological stage of the patients treated at this time is mostly in the early stage, and comprehensive treatment such as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy can improve the prognosis. This article investigates whether endometrial cancer requires pelvic and para-aortic lymph node dissection. The clinical data of 228 patients with endometrial cancer who underwent pelvic lymphadenectomy in our hospital from July 2020 to September 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent preoperative clinical staging and postoperative pathological staging. This paper compared lymph node spread rates of endometrial carcinoma in different stages, depth of muscle invasion, and pathological characteristics to analyze lymph node metastasis risk factors. Results showed metastasis rates of 7.5% in 228 cases of endometrial cancer, increasing with deeper myometrial invasion. Different clinicopathological factors had varying lymph node spread rates. Different clinicopathological factors have different pelvic lymph node spread rates in surgical patients. The lymph node spread rate of differentially differentiated carcinoma is higher than that of well-differentiated carcinoma. The lymph node spread rate of serous carcinoma is 100%, but there is no difference between the lymph node metastasis rate of special type carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Statistical significance (P > 0.05).

Paraaortic lymph node metastasis in endometrial cancer patients: a comprehensive analysis of rates, survival outcomes, and risk factors through systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction

This study aims to explore the incidence of different metastatic patterns in paraaortic lymph nodes and their corresponding survival outcomes in patients with endometrial cancer, as well as to identify the associated risk factors of such metastasis.

Material and methods

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and Clinical Trials.gov were searched from inception to February 10, 2024.The analysis was conducted using R version 4.2.3.

Results

A total of 47 studies involving 33,425 endometrial cancer patients were analyzed. Meta-analysis results revealed that the rate of isolated paraaortic lymph node metastasis, where pelvic lymph nodes were negative but paraaortic lymph nodes were positive (PLN-PAN+), was found to be 2.58% (95% CI 0.0195-0.0329). The rates for PLN+PAN- and PLN+PAN+ were notably higher at 8.54% (95% CI 0.0642-0.1092) and 8.37% (95% CI 0.0613-0.1090), respectively. For clinical stage I EC, the occurrence rate was 5.92% for PLN+PAN- (95% CI 0.0258-0.1032), 1.00% for PLN-PAN+ (95% CI 0.0081-0.0120), and 2.99% for PLN+PAN+ (95% CI 0.0188-0.0431). The survival outcomes indicate a decreasing trend from the PLN-PAN+ and PLN+PAN- groups to the PLN+PAN+ group. Additionally, the survival outcomes of patients with isolated paraaortic lymph node metastasis appear to be comparable to, or not inferior to, those of the PLN+PAN- group. The analysis indicated that pelvic lymph node metastasis (OR 16.72, 95% CI 10.03-27.86), myometrial invasion ≥50% (OR 5.18, 95% CI 3.09-8.69), lymph-vascular space invasion (LVSI) (OR 3.46, 95% CI 2.49-4.81), cervical invasion (OR 4.00, 95% CI 2.09-7.66), and non-endometrioid cancer (OR 2.39, 95% CI 1.17-4.86) were risk factors for paraaortic lymph node metastasis.

Conclusions

Isolated paraaortic lymph node metastasis, though relatively rare, can still occur even in clinical stage I endometrial cancer. The survival outcomes of patients with isolated paraaortic lymph node metastasis appear to be comparable to, or not inferior to, those of the PLN+PAN- group. Even in patients with negative pelvic lymph nodes, careful consideration should be given to the possibility of paraaortic lymph node metastasis, especially in those with high-risk factors.

Systematic review registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42024503959.

Preoperative Prediction Value of Pelvic Lymph Node Metastasis of Endometrial Cancer: Combining of ADC Value and Radiomics Features of the Primary Lesion and Clinical Parameters

Objective

To investigate the value of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value of endometrial cancer (EC) primary lesion and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) three-dimensional (3D) radiomics features combined with clinical parameters for preoperative prediction of pelvic lymph node metastasis (PLNM).

Methods

A total of 136 patients with EC confirmed by postoperative pathology were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. Patients were randomly divided into training set (n = 95) and test set (n = 41) at a ratio of 7 : 3. Radiomics features based on T₂WI, DWI, and contrast-enhanced T₁WI (CE-T₁WI) sequence were extracted and screened, and then radiomics score (Rads-score) was calculated. Clinical parameters and ADC value of EC primary lesion were measured and collected, and their correlation with PLNM was analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to assess the diagnostic efficacy of the model. A nomogram for PLNM was created based on the multivariate logistic regression model.

Results

The ADC value of the EC primary lesion showed inverse correlation with PLNM, while CA125 and Rads-score were positively associated with PLNM. A predictive model was proposed based on ADC value, Rads-score, CA125, and MR-reported pelvic lymph node status (PLNS) for PLNM in EC. The area under the curve (AUC) of the model is 0.940; the sensitivity and specificity (87.1% and 90.6%) of the model were significantly higher than that of the MRI morphological signs.

Conclusion

A combination of ADC value, MRI 3D radiomics features of the EC primary lesion, and clinical parameters generated a prediction model for PLNM in EC and had a good diagnostic performance; it was a useful supplement to MR-reported PLNS based on MRI morphological signs.

Tumor diameter as a predictor of lymph node involvement in endometrioid type endometrial adenocarcinomas

AIM

To analyze the risk factors of lymph node involvement in pure endometrioid type endometrial cancer and assess factors that necessitate lymphadenectomy.

METHODS

Patients who had been operated on due to endometrial cancer and whose final pathology was reported as pure endometrioid carcinoma between January 2014 and January 2020 were assessed. Hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and systematic lymphadenectomy were performed in all patients. All specimens were reported by expert gynecopathologists.

RESULTS

The lymph node positivity rate was 14.4%. When the study population was classified according to the Mayo risk criteria; lymph node involvement in the low-risk and high-risk groups was 9.1% and 14.8%, respectively and there was no statistically difference (p > 0.05). The median of tumor size and the rate of deep myometrial invasion, lymphovascular space invasion, adnexal involvement, FIGO grade 3 tumor were found significantly higher in the positive lymph node group in univariate analysis. In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the cut-off value of the tumor diameter was determined as 47.5 mm (sensitivity 85%, specificity 62%). Every 10 mm increase in tumor diameter increased the risk of lymph node involvement 10 times.

CONCLUSION

This study defined that the tumor diameter is an independent predictor for lymphatic dissemination. In the future, it could be shown that even with new modeling based on tumor diameter, lymphadenectomy or adjuvant radiotherapy requirements would be reevaluated.

A Lymph Node Count-Based AJCC Staging System Facilitates a More Accurate Prediction of the Prognosis of Patients With Endometrial Cancer

Purpose

Both the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) and the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system for endometrial cancer (EC) defined the N category by the location of metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) rather than the metastatic LN count. We aimed to compare the accuracy of the AJCC staging system and the LN count-based staging system.

Patients and Methods

EC patients were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database between 2004 and 2016. Patients' characteristics were collected, including age, race, marital status, histological type, grade, therapeutic measures, the number of metastatic LNs, the number of dissected LNs, vital status, and survival in months. Overall survival (OS) was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier (KM) method and the concordance index (C-index) was used to compare the prognostic value of the AJCC staging system and the LN count-based staging system.

Results

We identified 4,276 EC cases from the SEER database, including 2,693 patients with stage IIIC1 and 1,583 patients with stage IIIC2. Multivariate analyses showed that independent prognostic factors for patients with stage IIIC1 included age, race, marital status, grade, histology, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Independent prognostic factors for patients with stage IIIC2 included age, marital status, grade, histology, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. The C-index of the AJCC staging system and the LN count-based staging system were 0.483 and 0.617, respectively. At least six LNs should be dissected to ensure the accuracy of the LN count-based staging system.

Conclusion

A modified AJCC staging system based on the count of metastatic LNs might be superior to the current AJCC staging system, which still had room for improvement and further refinements were required. For accurate staging, we recommended that at least six LNs should be examined in the modified AJCC staging system.

L1 Cell Adhesion Molecule (L1CAM) expression in endometrioid endometrial carcinomas: A possible pre-operative surrogate of lymph vascular space invasion

Background

Risk stratification of endometrial carcinomas is primarily based on surgical staging that requires extensive retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. One of the most powerful predictor of lymph node involvement is the lymph vascular space invasion (LVSI). The objective of this study was to determine the potential of L1 Cell Adhesion Molecule (L1CAM) to predict LVSI and its association with other risk factors in endometrioid endometrial carcinomas.

Materials and methods

We studied 47 consecutive patients aged 37–88 (61.34±10.52). Twenty-three patients (48.9%) were submitted to complete surgical staging. Nine patients (19.1%) underwent surgical staging without para-aortic dissection. Seven (14.9%) were submitted to hysterectomy with no lymph node dissection. Eight patients (17.0%) only had the biopsy material for analysis. The 32 patients submitted to lymphadenectomy were staged according to the FIGO system and classified among the risk categories of the ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO guidelines. The following histological characteristics were analyzed: tumor size (mm), depth of myometrial infiltration, presence of microcystic, elongated, and fragmented (MELF) pattern of myoinvasion, and lymph vascular space invasion (LVSI). Immunohistochemical analyses of mismatch repair (MMR) proteins MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2, p53, and L1CAM were performed in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded whole tumor tissue sections.

Results

LVSI was identified in 26/41 (63,4%) of the cases. L1CAM was positive in 8/47 (17%) cases, all of them positive for LVSI and within the high-risk category of ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO. L1CAM-positive cases were associated with high histological grade and p53 aberrant immunohistochemical profile. Besides, it showed a trend to larger tumors, greater depth of myometrial infiltration, and with a higher frequency of the MELF pattern of myoinvasion. LVSI was also associated with FIGO stage, tumor size, depth of myometrial infiltration, and tumor grade.

Conclusions

L1CAM is highly associated with LVSI and could be used as a pre-operative predictor of lymph node involvement in endometrioid endometrial carcinomas.