Clinical and pathological features of isolated pulmonary and liver recurrences in endometrial cancer

Objective: To present the clinicopathological features of endometrial cancer (EC) patients with isolated liver or lung metastases and to compare the survival differences after diagnosis of recurrent disease. Material and Methods: The clinical and histopathological data of the patients who were treated with a diagnosis of epithelial EC between January 1993 and May 1993 at Etlik Zubeyde Hanim Teaching and Research Hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with isolated recurrence in liver (ILR) or lung (IPR) were included in the analysis. Results: The clinical data of 162 patients with recurrent EC were available. Of these, 21 had IPR and 9 had ILR. Patients with ILR presented with more advanced stage, and omental and adnexal involvement was more common compared to patients with IPR. On the other hand, patients with IPR had higher grade disease. Fifty-seven percent of patients with IPR had grade 3 compared to 11% of grade 3 disease in ILR (p=0.02). The median time to recurrence (TTR) was 18 months (range 1-54) in the whole study population. While the median TTR of patients with IPR was 19 months, the median TTR of patients with ILR was 16 months (p=0.204). Both study groups have similar survival. The 1-year post-recurrence survival of IPR and ILR was 66% and 56% (p=0.129), respectively. Conclusion: Although , isolated liver and lung metastases are the result of hematogenous spread in EC, clinicopathological features of these two recurrence patterns significantly differ. Clinicians should try to categorize these patients separately to better understand the prognostic outcomes.