Objective: Growing evidence suggests that fertility-preserving treatment is feasible for young women with early-stage, low-grade endometrial carcinoma. However, published data on their long-term outcomes and prognostic factors remain scanty. We aimed to investigate the outcomes of young women receiving fertility-preserving treatment.
Methods: Between 1991 and 2010, the outcomes of young women with grade 1 endometrioid endometrial carcinoma at presumed stage IA (without myometrial invasion) who underwent fertility-preserving treatment of megestrol acetate 160 mg/d with or without other hormonal agents were retrospectively analyzed.
Results: We identified 37 eligible patients (median age, 32 years; range, 18-40 years). The median follow-up time was 78.6 months (range, 19.1-252.8 months). Complete response (CR) lasting more than 6 months was achieved in 30 (81.1%) women. Responders were significantly younger than nonresponders (P = 0.032). Of the 30 women who had a CR, 15 (50.0%) had disease recurrence. The 5-, 10-, and 15-year cumulative recurrence-free survival rates were 51.0%, 51.0%, and 34.0%, respectively. Notably, those recurred were significantly older (P = 0.003), and the time to CR was significantly longer (P = 0.043) than those without recurrence. One patient developed late recurrences at 156 months, and 2 patients developed ovarian metastasis (6 and 137 months from diagnosis). All the patients are currently alive.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates the feasibility of high-dose megestrol acetate-based therapy for fertility preservation. The substantial risk of late recurrences highlights the need for long-term follow-up studies of large sample sizes with in-depth tumor and host molecular signatures.