THE EFFECT OF TUMOR FREE DISTANCE ON THE PROGNOSTIC FACTORS OF ENDOMETRIAL CANCER

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the importance of tumor-free distance (TFD) in prognostic factors of endometrial cancer (EC) and determine the best TFD cut-off value for predicting advanced EC. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study included 153 patients diagnosed with EC. The depth of myometrial invasion (DOI) and TFD were measured, and the associations between prognostic factors for EC and DOI and TFD were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean ± standard deviation values of TFD and DOI were 12 ± 6 and 7 ± 6 mm, respectively. TFD and DOI were significantly related to lymph node (LN) metastasis, lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) and cervical involvement. A shorter TFD was significantly associated with a higher tumor grade, positive cytology and LVSI. Shorter DOI was significantly associated with LN metastasis and cervical involvement. A receiver operating characteristics curve analysis demonstrated that the optimal TFD cut-off value was 48% for LN metastasis. A DOI of 47% had the best sensitivity and specificity for LN metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: TFD was superior for predicting LVSI as compared to DOI, whereas DOI showed good diagnostic performance for predicting LN metastasis. Further studies are needed to predict the effect of TFD and DOI on the prognostic factors of endometrial cancer.