Single Institute Experience with Neo-Adjuvant Chemotherapy and Interval Debulking Surgery in Advanced Endometrial Cancer

Indian J Surg Oncol. 2023 Dec;14(4):800-808. doi: 10.1007/s13193-023-01781-1. Epub 2023 Jun 12.

Abstract

Our study aims to review the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) followed by interval debulking surgery (IDS) in patients with advanced endometrial cancer. Patients with advanced endometrial cancer treated with NACT followed by IDS at our institute from January 2010 to January 2020 were recruited. Data pertaining to baseline patient characteristics, surgical details, histopathology/imaging reports, treatment and follow up details including the development of recurrence and death were collected from institutional database. Disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated using Kaplan Meier survival curves. We recruited 31 patients for our study. About 83.9% patients showed partial response and 6.4% patients responded completely to NACT with none of the patients developing disease progression. Complete cytoreduction was achieved in 90.3% patients, optimal cytoreduction in 3.2% patients while 6.5% patients had suboptimal surgery. On completion of primary treatment, complete remission was achieved by 80.6% patients while 16.1% patients had progressive disease. Median follow up period was 21 months (range 1- 61 months). During follow up period, 51.6% patients developed recurrent disease after achieving complete remission and 61.3% patients died of disease progression/recurrence. The median DFS and median OS of the cohort was 15 months and 21 months respectively. The 2 year DFS for the cohort was 34.1% and the 3 year OS was 30.5%. NACT followed by IDS is a reasonably good option for advanced stage endometrial cancer not amenable to primary surgery. Innovative treatments are warranted in this cluster of patients.

Keywords: Advanced endometrial cancer; Disease free survival; Interval debulking surgery; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy; Overall survival.