Purpose: To assess the impact of laparoscopic extraperitoneal paraaortic staging in therapeutic planning and prognosis of patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) as compared with imaging staging.
Methods: Retrospective multicenter study of stage IB2 and IIA2 to IVA (FIGO 2009) LACC patients who were candidates for primary chemoradiotherapy. The study (surgical) group included 634 patients undergoing laparoscopic/robotic extraperitoneal paraaortic staging treated with extended-field radiotherapy (EFRT) if lymph node involvement was confirmed. The control (imaging) group included 288 patients treated with EFRT when lymph node involvement was suspected on positron emission tomography-computed tomography scans and/or magnetic resonance imaging.
Results: In the study group, a median of 13 (range 9-17) lymph nodes were removed, with a rate of positive paraaortic nodes of 18%, with metastatic size ≤ 5 mm in 20.4% of cases. Paraaortic EFRT was administered to 18% of patients in the study group and in 58% of controls. In 34% of patients from the surgical group, EFRT was modified according to surgical findings with respect to imaging staging. The median follow-up in the study and control groups was 3.7 and 4.8 years, respectively. In both groups, the overall survival and cancer-specific disease-free survival were similar. The time interval between diagnosis and starting EFRT was 18 days longer in the study group, without differences in overall survival as compared with controls (hazard ratio 1.00, 95% confidence interval 0.998-1.005; p = 0.307).
Conclusions: Laparoscopic extraperitoneal paraaortic staging in LACC patients is safe and modified therapeutic planning, allowing better selection of candidates for EFRT.