Single-institutional outcomes of adjuvant brachytherapy for Stage I endometrial cancer-Are outcomes consistent with randomized studies?

PURPOSE: Vaginal brachytherapy (VBT) alone has been shown to be a viable adjuvant treatment strategy for most patients with Stage I endometrioid endometrial cancer. We sought to examine our institutional data following practice pattern changes resulting from the publications of GOG-99 and PORTEC-2.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: We retrospectively analyzed women who underwent adjuvant VBT after surgical staging for Stage 1 endometrioid endometrial cancer at our institution from 2007 to 2014.

RESULTS: We identified 297 women. Median time to last followup or death was 52.3 months (interquartile range: 32.3-72.3 months). By International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics 2009 staging, 162 patients (54.5%) had Stage IA and 128 (43.1%) had Stage IB disease. Ninety-nine (33.3%) patients had Grade 1, 153 (51.5%) had Grade 2, and 45 (15.2%) had Grade 3 disease. According to GOG-249 and PORTEC-2 criteria, 167 (56.2%) and 127 (42.7%) patients were with high-intermediate-risk disease. Two women had Stage IB Grade 3 disease. The most common high-dose-rate-VBT regimen was 2100 cGy/three fractions to a depth of 5 mm. Four (two acute and two late) (1.3%) Grade 3 genitourinary toxicities were reported: three episodes of vaginal dehiscence (after second course of VBT, 2 months after completion of VBT, and 1 year after completion of VBT) and one episode of radiation necrosis. Twenty-one (7%) women recurred: three recurred in the vagina, two recurred in the pelvic lymph nodes, and 16 recurred distantly.

CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes appear consistent with published randomized data in women with high-intermediate-risk endometrial cancer who are treated with brachytherapy alone. Recurrence and complication rates were minimal.