Preoperative predictors of pelvic and para-aortic lymph node metastases in cervical cancer

Aim: This study investigated potential preoperative predictors of pelvic lymph node (PLN) and para-aortic LN (PaLN) involvement in cervical cancer (CC).Materials and Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed 283 patients diagnosed with early (stage IA1-IIA) CC who underwent retroperitoneal LN dissection between January 1992 and February 2015. Several risk factors that are believed to influence PLN and PaLN involvement in CC were analyzed as follows: age >50 years, lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI), tumor size >= 2 cm, hemoglobin <12 g/dL, and nonsquamous cell histologic type.Results: LVSI (odds ratio [OR] = 11.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 5.2-24.3) and tumor size (OR = 3.2, 95% CI = 1.4-7.2) were independent predictors of PLN involvement. None of the factors predicted PaLN involvement in a regression analysis. However, all nine patients who had PaLN involvement also had PLN involvement.Conclusion: LVSI and tumor size independently increase the risk of PLN involvement.