Extended radical hysterectomy in early-stage carcinoma of the uterine cervix: tailoring the radicality.

The question of whether surgical treatment in early-stage cervical cancer should be aggressive or restricted to less radical techniques is still controversial. To answer this question it was thought useful to investigate the correlation of parametrial lymph node metastases with extension and stage of disease. Two-hundred and sixty-three consecutive primary radical surgical procedures were performed in our institute in clinical stage IB or stage IIA cervical cancer. Positive parametrial nodes were found in 6.9% of cases: 5% in stage IB (3% in the proximal part of the parametrium and 2% in the distal part, near the pelvic wall) and 16.3% in stage IIA (7% proximal and 9.3% distal) (P = 0.0193). During a median follow-up period of 92 months, disease recurred in 17.1% and 17.6% of cases, in negative and positive parametria, respectively. The 5-year overall and disease-free survival rates were 80.4% and 81.6% for patients with negative and positive parametria, respectively. From this experience it is concluded that the extent of radical hysterectomy should be related to the extent of the disease on the basis of modern knowledge of the pattern of spread. The principal key to prognosis remains pelvic and paracavoaortic nodal status.