Influence of diagnostic conization on surgical morbidity and survival in patients undergoing radical hysterectomy for stage IB and IIA cervical carcinoma.

The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate whether diagnostic conization influenced surgical morbidity of a subsequent radical hysterectomy in patients with early cervical carcinoma. Furthermore, the impact of an irradical conization on nodal metastases and prognosis was analysed. Included were 271 patients with stage IB and IIA cervical carcinoma who underwent an Okabayashi radical hysterectomy between 1982 and 1991. There were 68 patients who underwent conization prior to radical hysterectomy. The conization-radical hysterectomy interval was approximately six weeks. Surgical morbidity in patients with a previous conization was not significantly different from that in patients without a previous conization. Survival was also not significantly different between these groups (95% vs. 91%, p = 0.23). Multivariate analysis showed that an irradical conization was not associated with an increased risk for nodal metastases or a poorer prognosis. We suggest that in early cervical carcinoma, a diagnostic conization does not adversely affect early morbidity of a following radical hysterectomy. An irradical conization does not seem to influence prognosis.