Objective: Review of new staging systems for gynaecological cancers and their impact on prognosis and planning treatment.
Design: Review article.
Setting: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, First Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Na Bulovce, Charles University, Prague; Department of Radiotherapeutic Oncology, First Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Na Bulovce, Charles University, Prague; Department of Pathology, University Hospital Na Bulovce, Prague.
Results: Every staging system should have 3 basic characteristics: it must be valid, reliable, and practical. Over the years, these staging classifications--with the exception of cervical cancer and gestational trophoblastic neoplasia--have shifted from a clinical to a surgical-pathological basis. Changes based on new findings were proposed in 2008 by the FIGO Committee on Gynecologic Oncology, approved in September 2008 by the FIGO Executive Board, and published in 2009. The greatest changes were made in the new staging system for carcinoma of the vulva and others in the new staging systems for carcinoma of the cervix and carcinoma of the endometrium. A new stanging system was also created for uterina sarcomas, based on the criteria used in other soft tissue sarcomas. A clinical staging system for carcinoma of cervix continues because surgical staging cannot be employed worldwide (especially in third world countries). Stage 0 has been deleted from the staging of all tumours, since it is pre-invasive lesion and it is not an invasive tumour. In the revised staging system for carcinoma of the endometrium, four fundamental changes have occurred, which will be discussed. Carcinosarcoma is still staged identically to carcinoma of the endometrium. A completely new staging system was created for adenosarcomas, along with an almost identical staging system for leiomyosarcoma and endometrial stromal sarcoma. The staging system for carcinoma of ovary and Fallopian tube remains without changes.
Conclusion: Since medical research and practice in the field of oncology have shown explosive growth, the staging of some of the gynaecological cancers did not give a good spread of prognostic groupings. Therefore, revised FIGO and TNM staging system has been structured to represent major prognostic factors in predicting patients' outcomes and lending order to the complex dynamic behavior of gynaecological cancers. The purpose of good staging system is to offer a classification of the extent of gynaecological cancer in order to provide a method of conveying one's clinical experience to others for the comparison of treatment methods.