Aim: To review contemporary knowledge of the low volume metastatic disease in patients with endometrial cancer.
Type of study: A literatue review.
Settings: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Olomouc; Department of Clinical and Molecular Pathology, University Hospital Olomouc.
Introduction: The presence of micrometastases or isolated tumor cells in the sentinel node detected by ultrastaging leads to the change of tumor stage. Low volume lymph node involvement represents up to 30% of the affected lymph nodes in patients with endometrial cancer. The enhanced sentinel lymph node investigation aims to more accurately determine the extent of illness from stage I to stage IIIC. Particularly important is the detection of low-volume metastatic nodal involvement in low-risk tumors, because compared with macrometastases, micrometastases may occure earlier in tumours with lower carcinologic aggressiveness.
Conclusion: Detection of low volume metastatic disease decrease the false negativity of nodal involvement and is helpful for adjuvant treatment planning.
Keywords: endometrial cancer; low-volume disease; metastatic lymphonode involvement; pathological ultrastaging.