Comparison of oncologic outcomes between radical laparotomy surgery versus minimally invasive surgery for early cervical cancer Comparación de los resultados oncológicos entre cirugía radical por laparotomía versus la de mínima invasión en cáncer temprano de cérvix

Abstract

Introduction: radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy is the standard treatment for early cervical cancer patients who do not wish to preserve fertility. The main objective of this study is to compare overall survival, disease-free survival, and recurrence rates of patients undergoing minimally invasive radical hysterectomy (MIS) versus open surgery. Likewise, the histopathological characteristics, intraoperative complications, early and late postoperative complications, are analyzed for both techniques, Methodology: an observational retrospective cohort study between 2011 and 2017. Patients over 18 years of age diagnosed with cervical carcinoma in stages IA1 (lymph vascular space invasion) and IB1 (FIGO 2009) receiving follow-up care until December 2020, were included.  The Chi-square test, Fisher´s exact test or Mann Whitney U test were used for bivariate analysis, to determine the differences between the techniques with regards to sociodemographic, clinical characteristics and intraoperative early and late complications. Overall survival rates and recurrence densities were calculated with data provided by the patients. Results: of the 113 patients undergoing radical hysterectomy, 75 were excluded from the analysis. Overall survival was 100% in the laparotomy group versus 97.6% in the MIS group. The overall recurrence rate was of 8 cases, 14.1 per 1.000 person-years of observation in the MIS group. Patients in the laparotomy group developed no recurrences. There was a significant difference in median intraoperative blood loss (600 cc in laparotomy versus 100 cc in laparoscopy, p= 0.002); 11.4% of patients required intraoperative transfusion (25% in the laparotomy group versus 2.4% in the MIS group, p=0.006). Conclusions: patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery had a higher recurrence and mortality rate than that of open approach.