The Relationship between Positive Peritoneal Cytology and the Prognosis of Patients with Uterine Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Objective: We investigated the association of positive peritoneal cytology with prognosis in uterine cervical cancer. Study Design: We reviewed the medical records and cytologic materials of 225 Japanese patients with FIGO IB1-IVB uterine cervical cancer who had undergone surgery at our University Hospital between 1993 and 2012. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed for statistical analysis. Results: Positive peritoneal cytology was noted in 6 of 225 patients (2.7%). Positive peritoneal cytology was found in 4 of 149 patients (2.6%) with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and in 2 of 70 patients (2.8%) with non-SCC (p = 0.9434). The 5-year survival rate of patients with positive peritoneal cytology was significantly lower than that of patients with negative cytology (50 vs. 84.6%, p = 0.001) in univariate survival analysis. However, peritoneal cytology no longer remained significant in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Although we conclude that positive peritoneal cytology in uterine cervical cancer is a poor prognostic factor, further investigation and multi-institutional studies are necessary.