Patterns of First Recurrence and Oncological Outcomes in Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer Patients: Does Surgical Staging Play a Role?

Background: We aimed to determine whether surgical aortic staging by minimally invasive paraaortic lymphadenectomy (PALND) affects the pattern of first recurrence and survival in treated locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) patients when compared to patients staged by imaging (noPALND). Methods: This study was a multicenter observational retrospective cohort study of patients with LACC treated at tertiary care hospitals throughout Spain. The inclusion criteria were histological diagnosis of squamous carcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma, and/or adenocarcinoma; FIGO stages IB2, IIA2-IVA (FIGO 2009); and planned treatment with primary chemoradiotherapy between 2000 and 2016. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed before the analysis. Results: After PSM and sample replacement, 1092 patients were included for analysis (noPALND n = 546, PALND n = 546). Twenty-one percent of patients recurred during follow-up, with the PALND group having almost double the recurrences of the noPALND group (noPALND: 15.0%, PALND: 28.0%, p < 0.001). Nodal (regional) recurrences were more frequently observed in PALND patients (noPALND:2.4%, PALND: 11.2%, p < 0.001). Among those who recurred regionally, 57.1% recurred at the pelvic nodes, 37.1% recurred at the aortic nodes, and 5.7% recurred simultaneously at both the pelvic and aortic nodes. Patients who underwent a staging PALND were more frequently diagnosed with a distant recurrence (noPALND: 7.0%, PALND: 15.6%, p < 0.001). PALND patients presented poorer overall, cancer-specific, and disease-free survival when compared to patients in the noPALND group. Conclusion: After treatment, surgically staged patients with LACC recurred more frequently and showed worse survival rates.