Objective: Mucinous carcinoma of the endometrium (MCE) is a rare histologic type representing less than 5% of all endometrial carcinomas. The aim of the study was to describe our experience with MCE and determine its clinical outcome.
Methods: After institutional review board approval, we performed a comprehensive retrospective review of medical records of patients with uterine adenocarcinoma who underwent surgical staging for MCE in 2 large academic centers between 1990 and 2009. Patients with 2009 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stages I to III were included. Patients' demographics and tumor characteristics were obtained and analyzed, including data on follow-up and survival.
Results: Thirty-one patients with MCE were identified for the study. Median age was 62 years (range, 43-91 years). All patients underwent surgical staging with lymph node evaluation. Patients' distribution by stage was as follows: 83.9% (n = 26) stage IA, 6.5% (n = 2) stage IIIA, and 9.7% (n = 3) stage IIIC1. Median follow-up was 62 months (range, 1-189 months). Only 30 patients received adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy. No patients received adjuvant radiation treatment after hysterectomy. Only 4 patients had tumor recurrences with a median time to recurrence of 13.5 months (range, 8-30 months). Three patients with stage IIIC1 and one patient with stage IIIA had a diagnosis of pelvic recurrences. On univariate analysis, factors associated with recurrence were advanced stage (P ≤ 0.0001), deep myometrial invasion (P = 0.0199), lower uterine segment involvement (P = 0.0038), and grade II disease (P = 0.0013). Five-year relapse-free survival was 86.3%, and 5-year overall survival was 81.2%.
Conclusions: Based on our study cohort, the outcome of patients with FIGO stage I to stage II MCE is excellent with surgical staging alone. However, patients with advanced stages may potentially benefit from adjuvant therapies. These findings need to be validated with other similar studies.