Abdominal specimen retrieval in endometrial cancer patients with large uteri

Endometrial cancer surgery has a low risk of specimen fragmentation, but removing large uteri can be challenging. This study aimed to assess whether the use of minilaparotomic incision for specimen retrieval compromises the benefits of minimally invasive surgery in endometrial cancer patients with a large uterus or utero-vaginal discrepancy.

This is a retrospective multi-institutional study, including endometrial cancer patients with FIGO 2009 clinical stage I–II, undergoing minimally invasive staging surgery (laparoscopic or robot-assisted) followed by minilaparotomic specimen retrieval. A propensity-matched algorithm was used to compare outcomes of minimally invasive staging with open surgery.

The study included 45 propensity-matched pairs (90 patients): 45 underwent minimally invasive staging with minilaparotomic specimen retrieval and 45 underwent open staging. Patients undergoing minimally invasive surgery plus trans-abdominal specimen retrieval experienced longer median operative time (95 vs. 85 minutes; p=0.0017), lower blood loss (50 vs. 100 ml; p<0.001), and shorter length of hospital stay (3 vs. 5 days; p<0.001) in comparison to patients undergoing open surgery. No intraoperative complication occurred. No intraoperative transfusions were administered in both cohorts. No statistically significant differences in complications rates were registered between groups (p=0.266). No differences in term of disease-free (p=0.833, log-rank test) and overall (p=0.723, log-rank test) survival was noted between groups.

Transabdominal specimen retrieval does not reduce the benefits of minimally invasive staging in endometrial cancer with large uteri or utero-vaginal disproportion. Uterine size is not a limitation for minimally invasive surgery. Further studies are needed to confirm these results and define the optimal approach.