Malignant mixed Müllerian tumour of the cervix treated with concurrent chemoradiation

Cervical Carcinosarcoma: Current Understanding on Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, Management and Future Perspectives

Cervical carcinosarcoma (CCS) is a rare aggressive tumor which was referred to as a sarcoma initially with its morbidity less than 1% of all cervical cancers. Four theories have been proposed for the pathogenesis of CCS. The “metaplastic theory,” also called “monoclonal theory,” has been widely accepted so far. The most common clinical symptom of CCS is abnormal vaginal bleeding. CCS is much less common than the counterparts in uterine corpus and usually confused with uterine carcinosarcoma (UCS) or common cervical cancer. The management for CCS has been mainly extrapolated from studies of UCS or cervical cancers. However, CCS has its special anatomical position and biological behaviors and is usually diagnosed at an early stage than UCS. Currently, there is no consensus on the survival, management and prognosis factors of CCS. We reviewed and summarized the literatures regarding to the epidemiology, clinical presentations, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of CCS for providing clinicians with comprehensive information to diagnose and treat this malignancy.

Therapy Modalities, Prognostic Factors, and Outcome of the Primary Cervical Carcinosarcoma: Meta-analysis of Extremely Rare Tumor of Cervix

Objective

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic factors, treatment options, and survival outcomes of primary carcinosarcomas of the uterine cervix.

Methods

An electronic search of the literature was conducted from 1951 to February 2017 to identify articles on primary cervical carcinosarcoma. After comprehensive evaluation of case series and case reports, 81 cases were included in the study.

Results

The most common clinical FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage was IB at 53% of cases. Median follow-up time was 15 months (range, 1.75–156 months). Two-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort were 49% and 60%, respectively. Both 2-year DFS and OS were significantly higher in patients with stage I than in those with stage II disease or greater (73% vs 22%, P = 0.000 and 82% vs 33%, P = 0.000, respectively). Two-year OS was 17% for patients who received primary radiotherapy, whereas it was 68% for those who underwent only surgery (P = 0.003). Surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy was significantly associated with improved DFS and OS compared with primary radiotherapy. Two-year DFS was 63% in patients who underwent primary surgery, whereas it was 100% in patients treated with primary surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy with chemotherapy (P = 0.030). Stage alone was an independent prognostic factor for risk of both recurrence and death (hazard ratios, 9.8 [P = 0.004] and 14 [P = 0.018], respectively).

Conclusions

In due course of presentation, the tumor stage has a great importance because it is the only independent factor for prognosis. Surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy seems to be related with better OS and DFS.