Early invasive carcinoma of the cervix (3 to 5 mm invasion): Risk factors and prognosis: A gynecologic oncology group study

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to evaluate the risk factors and prognosis in patients with stage IA squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix and 3 to 5 mm of invasion. STUDY DESIGN: From 1981 to 1984 the Gynecologic Oncology Group conducted a prospective clinico-pathologic study of patients with stage I carcinoma of the cervix. A selective study group that was previously defined and reported included patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix who were treated with radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy and who had disease confined to the uterus, with or without microscopically positive lymph nodes. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-eight patients had invasion of 3, 4, or 5 mm as determined by central pathology review. Patients who satisfied the 3 to 5 mm invasion definition of the current stage IA₂ classification of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (1995) are the subject of this report. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with stage IA₂ carcinoma of the cervix who had 3 to 5 mm of invasion present on conization with no invasion in the hysterectomy specimen are at very low risk for lymph node metastases, recurrences, or death caused by cancer.