Does adjuvant chemotherapy improve survival for women with early-stage uterine leiomyosarcoma?

• Leiomyosarcoma is an aggressive disease with a poor prognosis.
• High rates of distant failure argue for adjuvant systemic therapy.
• Extra-pelvic recurrences were significantly higher in the radiation subgroup.
• Recurrences were more successfully treated in the adjuvant chemotherapy group.
• Adjuvant chemotherapy was independently associated with overall survival.
• Pelvic radiation improves local pelvic control but does not improve survival.

ObjectivesTo examine whether adjuvant therapy after primary surgery for treatment of early-stage uterine leiomyosarcoma (LMS) improves recurrence and survival rates.MethodsA multisite, retrospective study of women diagnosed with stage I–II high grade LMS from 1990–2010 was performed. All patients (pts) underwent primary surgery followed by observation (OBS), radiotherapy (RT), or chemotherapy (CT) postoperatively.ResultsOne hundred eight patients were identified with long-term follow-up; 94 pts (87.0%) had stage I and 14 (13.0%) had stage II disease. The mean patient age was 55.4 years and mean BMI was 28.0. Thirty-four (31.5%) patients underwent OBS, 35 (32.4%) received RT, and 39 (36.1%) received chemotherapy. After a median follow-up of 41.8 months, a recurrence was diagnosed in 70.8%. Recurrence was evident in 25/34 (73.5%) OBS, 23/35 (65.7%) RT, and 28/39 (71.8%) of CT cohorts and was not different based on treatment (p = 0.413). However, extra-pelvic recurrences were significantly higher in the RT (95.2%) than in the OBS (60%) or CT (64.3%) cohorts (p = 0.012). Additionally, recurrences were more likely to be successfully treated or palliated in those who initially received CT (p = 0.031). On multivariate analysis, stage (p < 0.001) and chemotherapy (p = 0.045) were associated with overall survival.ConclusionsWomen with early-stage, high grade uterine LMS experience high recurrence rates and poor survival outcomes, irrespective of adjuvant therapy. These rates are higher than previously reported in the literature. Although women treated with CT had similar recurrence rates as those treated with OBS or RT, treatment with adjuvant chemotherapy may decrease the risk of extra-pelvic recurrence and improve survival.