Minimally invasive surgery for early-stage cervical cancer linked to worse survival

Editor's Note

In this study, minimally invasive radical hysterectomy was associated with worse overall survival and higher recurrence rates than open abdominal radical hysterectomy for women with early-stage IA or IB cervical cancer.

Of 631 patients analyzed:

• Minimally invasive surgery was associated with a three-fold increase in disease progression.
• The rate of disease-free survival at 4.5 years was 86% with minimally invasive surgery and 96.5% with open surgery.
• The 3-year overall survival was 91.2% in the minimally invasive group and 97.1% in the open group.

The findings could impact the surgical management of all women with early-stage cervical cancer, the researchers say.