The surgical management of recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva.

Thirty-four patients with recurrent/persistent squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva were treated at the University of Michigan Medical Center from 1975-1988. At follow-up, 19 patients (56%) were free of disease and 15 were dead of disease. Three patients developed a "bridge" recurrence, one patient each with original stages I, II, and IV. Two of these patients were free of disease and one patient died of disease. Ten patients had metastatic disease to the groin lymph nodes at the time of recurrence, and all of these patients are dead of disease. Therapy for the recurrence consisted of five radical vulvectomies (80% survival), four pelvic exenterations (25% survival), and 25 wide radical excisions (56% survival). The lymph node status was highly significant in predicting outcome, with zero of ten patients remaining free of disease when the lymph nodes were involved and 19 of 24 free of disease when the lymph nodes were uninvolved (P less than .0001). Factors that did not influence survival included the institution where the initial surgery was performed and the interval from initial therapy to recurrence. Twenty patients received their initial therapy at the University of Michigan and 12 (60%) were free of disease. Fourteen patients were referred from outside institutions for their recurrence and seven (50%) were free of disease. Nineteen patients had a recurrence within 2 years and nine were free of disease, ten patients recurred between 2-10 years of whom seven were free of disease, and five patients recurred after 10 years with three free of disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)