Clear cell cancer of the uterine corpus: the association of clinicopathologic parameters and treatment on disease progression

This paper presents a single-institution experience regarding the clinicopathologic features and treatment strategies used in uterine clear cell cancer (ucc),a rare,aggressive histologic subtype of uterine cancer with poor prognosis and discusses parameters associated with progression-free survival (pfs) and overall survival (os). a retrospective chart review was performed on all patients (n = 80) diagnosed with ucc and treated between 1994 and 2009 at a single academic institution. data on demographics,figo stage,treatment regimens,and recurrences were collected. patients with early-stage ucc had an excellent survival regardless of adjuvant therapy. advanced-stage patients had a worse survival. vaginal apex brachytherapy was associated with an increased os (p = 0.02) but not pfs (p = 0.10). the use of platinum-based chemotherapy in combination with vaginal apex brachytherapy did not significantly improve survival. innovative therapies still need to be identified for this uncommon uterine cancer. copyright © 2011 joyce varughese et al.