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In light of PORTEC-3 and GOG 249 data, do you use adjuvant radiation therapy alone in stage Ib serous endometrial carcinoma?

PORTEC-3 assigned women with high risk stage I or stage II-III endometrial carcinoma to adjuvant external beam radiation vs adjuvant chemoradiation with cisplatin followed by 4 cycles of carboplatin AUC5 + Taxol. Both groups received brachytherapy if warranted. Failure-free survival was improved in the chemotherapy group, particularly for stage III patients. Overall survival was not significantly different in the two arms, but favored chemoradiation + chemotherapy. The authors concluded that adjuvant chemoradiation followed by chemotherapy is recommended for stage III disease but could not be recommended for patients with stage I-II disease. GOG 249 assigned women with stage I or II endometrial cancer to either external beam radiation therapy +/- brachytherapy vs brachytherapy + 3 cycles of carboplatin AUC6 + Taxol. 35% of patients in the radiation-only arm received brachytherapy. Nodal recurrence rates were higher in the brachy + chemo group. The authors concluded that external beam radiation therapy should remain standard for patients with stage I-II endometrial cancer.
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Radiation Oncology · Varian Medical Systems/Allegheny health network
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The answer is still not clear but these studies do suggest limited impact of chemotherapy in early stage adverse pathology endometrial cancer. The confounding factor is that these studies combined clear cell and UPSC together and which diluted the power of the study. Chemosensitivity of CC is not sa...

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