Sigita S. Cahoon

Feto-maternal outcomes of pregnancy complicated by ovarian malignant germ cell tumor: a systematic review of literature

Malignant germ cell tumors (MGCT) are a rare type of ovarian cancer with poorly understood behavior during pregnancy. This systematic review evaluated feto-maternal outcomes and management patterns of 102 ovarian MGCT-complicated pregnancies identified in PubMed/MEDLINE. Mean age was 25.8. The most common histology type was dysgerminoma (38.2%) followed by yolk sac tumor (30.4%). Abdomino-pelvic pain (35.3%) was the most common symptom. The majority were stage I disease (76.4%) with a mean tumor size of 17.9cm. Most cases had live births (77.5%) at term (56.6%). Tumor surgery without fetal conservation took place in 22 (21.6%) cases (Group 1). This group was characterized by the first trimester tumor detection and intervention, non-viable pregnancy, and frequent concurrent hysterectomy. There were 59 (57.8%) cases which underwent expectant management of pregnancy: mean delay 16.4 weeks for 46 (45.1%) cases with tumor surgery and fetal conservation (Group 2); and 7.8 weeks for 13 (12.7%) cases with tumor surgery after delivery (Group 3). The live birth rate in Groups 2 and 3 was 98.3%. There were 21 (20.6%) cases in which the tumor was incidentally found intra/postpartum (Group 4). Group 2 showed the highest 5-year overall survival rate (92.8%) followed by Group 4 (79.5%), Group 3 (71.4%), and Group 1 (56.2%, p=0.028). Group 1 had more advanced-stage disease when compared to Group 2 (proportion of stages II-IV disease, 36.4% versus 11.4%, p=0.023). In multivariate analysis, age ≤20 (p=0.032) and stages II-IV (p=0.02) remained independent prognosticators for decreased overall survival in all cases. Expectant management of pregnancy was not associated with poor survival outcome in multivariate analysis (p=0.43). In conclusion, our analysis demonstrated that timing of tumor intervention and delivery significantly impacted feto-maternal outcome of ovarian MGCT-complicated pregnancies. It is suggested that early detection and tumor intervention with expectant management of pregnancy is an acceptable option in early-stage ovarian MGCT-complicated pregnancies.

Association of Low-Dose Aspirin and Survival of Women With Endometrial Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the survival outcomes in women with endometrial cancer who were taking low-dose aspirin (81–100 mg/d). METHODS: A multicenter retrospective study was conducted examining patients with stage I–IV endometrial cancer who underwent hysterectomy-based surgical staging between January 2000 and December 2013 (N=1,687). Patient demographics, medical comorbidities, medication types, tumor characteristics, and treatment patterns were correlated to survival outcomes. A Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratio for disease-free and disease-specific overall survival. RESULTS: One hundred fifty-eight patients (9.4%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 8.8–11.9) were taking low-dose aspirin. Median follow-up time for the study cohort was 31.5 months. One hundred twenty-seven patients (7.5%) died of endometrial cancer. Low-dose aspirin use was significantly correlated with concurrent obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolemia (all P<.001). Low-dose aspirin users were more likely to take other antihypertensive, antiglycemic, and anticholesterol agents (all P<.05). Low-dose aspirin use was not associated with histologic subtype, tumor grade, nodal metastasis, or cancer stage (all P>.05). On multivariable analysis, low-dose aspirin use remained an independent prognostic factor associated with an improved 5-year disease-free survival rate (90.6% compared with 80.9%, adjusted hazard ratio 0.46, 95% CI 0.25–0.86, P=.014) and disease-specific overall survival rate (96.4% compared with 87.3%, adjusted hazard ratio 0.23, 95% CI 0.08–0.64, P=.005). The increased survival effect noted with low-dose aspirin use was greatest in patients whose age was younger than 60 years (5-year disease-free survival rates, 93.9% compared with 84.0%, P=.013), body mass index was 30 or greater (92.2% compared with 81.4%, P=.027), who had type I cancer (96.5% compared with 88.6%, P=.029), and who received postoperative whole pelvic radiotherapy (88.2% compared with 61.5%, P=.014). These four factors remained significant for disease-specific overall survival (all P<.05). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that low-dose aspirin use is associated with improved survival outcomes in women with endometrial cancer, especially in those who are young, obese, with low-grade disease, and who receive postoperative radiotherapy.

Surgical menopause and increased risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in endometrial cancer.

Objective:Our objective was to examine risk factors associated with development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among women with endometrial cancer who underwent surgical staging with or without oophorectomy. Methods:This is a retrospective study that evaluated endometrial cancer cases that underwent surgical staging (n = 666) and endometrial hyperplasia cases that underwent hysterectomy-based treatment (n = 209). This study included 712 oophorectomy cases and 163 nonoophorectomy cases. Archived records were reviewed for participant demographics, medical comorbidities, operative notes, histology results, and radiology reports for NAFLD. Cumulative risks of NAFLD after surgical operation were correlated to demographics and medical comorbidities. Results:The cumulative prevalence of NAFLD in 875 women with endometrial tumor was 14.1%, 20.5%, and 38.4% at 1, 2, and 5 years after surgical operation, respectively. On multivariate analysis, after controlling for age, ethnicity, body mass index, medical comorbidities, tumor type, hormonal treatment pattern, and oophorectomy status, age younger than 40 years (2-y cumulative prevalence, 26.6% vs 16.8%; hazard ratio [HR], 1.85; 95% CI, 1.27-2.71; P = 0.001) and age 40 to 49 years (2-y cumulative prevalence, 23.1% vs 16.8%; HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.08-2.04; P = 0.015) remained significant predictors for developing NAFLD after surgical operation compared with age 50 years or older. Oophorectomy was an independent predictor for increased risk of NAFLD (20.9% vs 15.9%; HR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.01-2.86; P = 0.047). In addition, NAFLD was significantly associated with postoperative development of diabetes mellitus (39.2% vs 15.3%; HR, 2.26; 95% CI, 1.52-3.35; P < 0.0001) and hypercholesterolemia (34.3% vs 17.5%; HR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.12-2.63; P = 0.014). Conclusions:Oophorectomy in young women with endometrial cancer significantly increases the risk of NAFLD. This is associated with development of diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia after oophorectomy.

Contributing factors for menopausal symptoms after surgical staging for endometrial cancer.

Objective:The aim of the study was to examine contributing factors associated with developing menopausal symptoms after surgical staging in women with endometrial cancer. Methods:This is a retrospective study examining patients with endometrial cancer who were premenopausal at the time of hysterectomy-based surgical staging including bilateral oophorectomy between January 2000 and October 2013. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to evaluate demographics, medical comorbidity, liver function tests, tumor factors, and medication history for menopausal symptoms. Results:There were 269 premenopausal women who were eligible. Mean age was 44.5 years, and the majority had endometrioid histology (91.1%), grade 1 tumor (60.2%), and stage I disease (65.8%). Postoperatively, 73 (27.1%) women developed menopausal symptoms, with hot flushes (20.1%) being the most common symptom followed by night sweats (4.1%). On multivariate analysis, younger age was independently associated with increased risk of developing menopausal symptoms (hazard ratio per unit 0.91, 95% CI 0.88-0.94, P < 0.01). In addition, lower albumin level remained an independent predictor for decreased risk of developing menopausal symptoms (hazard ratio per unit 2.16, 95% CI 1.19-3.93, P = 0.012). Lower albumin level was associated with medical comorbidity (hypertension and diabetes mellitus), use of antihypertensive/glycemic agents (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or receptor blocker, hydrochlorothiazide, sulfonylurea, and insulin), aggressive tumor (high cancer antigen 125 level, nonendometrioid histology, and advanced stage), and abnormal liver function (high alkaline phosphatase level and low total protein level; all, P < 0.05). Conclusions:Assessing albumin level, medical comorbidity, and medication type for the development of postoperative menopausal symptoms is a valuable step in the preoperative management of women with endometrial cancer.