Embrace invasive.

When it comes to cervical cancer, “advanced” surgical techniques appear to have done just the opposite for disease outcomes. There is consistent data that minimally invasive laparoscopic/robotic surgery is associated with worse disease outcomes. This large multi-institutional retrospective study of over 800 women with stage IA1 through IB1 took stock of outcomes based upon type of hysterectomy performed. In the real world, there is always bias in selection of surgical approach. As a result, the 30% of patients who had open hysterectomy had larger tumors than those undergoing minimally invasive surgery. When accounting for these differences, minimally invasive surgery was yet again associated with a significant increase in the risk of recurrence. TBL: This study further supports the association of minimally invasive hysterectomy and inferior disease outcomes for women with early-stage cervical cancer. | Uppal, J Clin Oncol 2020