Pelvic exenterations for gynaecological cancer--a 10 year institutional review.

Abstract

Pelvic exenteration consists in a radical surgical procedure for patients with advanced cancer but limited to central pelvis. It is used for treatment of primary or recurrent tumours, or, more usually in treatment of recurrent cervical cancer.Retrospective study of medical charts of patients underwent pelvic exenteration for gynaecological cancer between January 1995 and April 2005.Twenty-one pelvic exenterations were performed in this period. The mean age of the patients was 55.7 years. Indication for surgery included 14 (67%) recurrent cervical cancers; 2 uterine cancers (recurrent), 2 vulvar cancer (one recurrent and one primary), 2 vagina carcinoma (one primary and one recurrent) and one patient with synchronous recto and uterine tumours. Exenteration was nine anterior, 3 posterior and 9 totals. The median length of hospitalization was 27 days. Most common postoperative complications were associated with urinary diversion. After surgery 19% of patients develops persistent lesion, 24% develops recurrent lesion with a middle free interval of 12.4 months. After a median follow-up of 29 months, 10 patients (47%) are alive and free of disease.Pelvic exenteration can be offered as a surgical salvage therapy to patients with locally advanced gynaecological cancer.