Comparison of Minimally Invasive Surgery versus Laparotomy for Surgical Staging of Endometrial Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction: Endometrial carcinoma is one of the commonest gynaecological cancer in developed countries as well as developing countries. The mainstay of initial treatment of endometrial carcinoma is surgical staging which may be performed by either the conventional abdominal approach or by minimally invasive route i.e. laparoscopic or robotic.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the surgical staging, safety and clinical benefits of minimally invasive surgeries versus. laparotomy in patients with endometrial cancer.

Methodology: We retrospectively analyzed 105 patients with endometrial cancer over a period of five years and compared the outcome of total hysterectomy with pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy by abdominal, laparoscopic approach or robotic-assisted surgery. Comparison was done with respect to operative time, blood loss, number of lymph nodes retrieved, length of hospital stay, intraoperative and postoperative complications. The data were analyzed using paired “t”- test / Wilcoxon signed rank test ,χ2 - test, Pearson correlation coefficient “r” whenever found suitable. P value of less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Result: There was no statistically significant difference seen in the baseline characteristics like age and BMI between the two groups. The laparotomies were done in a shorter time than the minimally invasive approach (p<0.001). The amount of blood loss (p=0.002), and the duration of hospital stay (p<0.001) was significantly less in the minimally invasive surgery group than the laparotomies. Not much difference in the lymph node retrieval was observed between the two arms (p=0.614). The number of complications were almost similar in both the groups.

Conclusion: Minimally invasive surgery for surgical staging of endometrial carcinoma is feasible and effective than laparotomy. The amount of blood loss and duration of hospital stay is seen much lesser with MIS than laparotomy.