Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the difference in prognostic factors between stage IB and II uterine cervical carcinoma patients treated with postoperative radiation therapy.
Patients and methods: Between May 1988 and May 1998, a total of 94 patients including 47 patients with stage IB and 47 patients with stage II uterine cervical carcinoma were treated with postoperative radiation therapy at Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital. All patients were treated with 10 MV X-rays using an anterior-posterior parallel opposed field which covered the whole pelvis. Fractionation was 2 Gy per day, five fractions per week, to a total dose of 50 Gy.
Results: The 5-year overall survival rates of stage IB and II were 89.4% and 79.3%, respectively. In multivariate analysis for all patients, lymph node status, histology, and surgical margin status were recognized as prognostic factors. Limited to stage IB patients, lymph node status was the only independent prognostic factor. However, for stage II patients, tumor histology was also an independent prognostic factor.
Conclusions: The prognostic factors of stage IB and II were different. Tumor histology was only associated with stage II patients. These findings suggested that tumor histology might have played a different role as tumor stage progressed. However, further studies with large numbers of patients will be required to confirm these results.