Purpose: A retrospective study aiming to assess the survival rate, recurrence rate and complications of patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva.
Methods: 91 patients with invasive carcinoma of the vulva were included in the study. The following clinical factors were assessed: clinical stage, diameter of lesion, and degree of tumor differentiation. The Kaplan-Meier estimate for statistical analysis of survival was used.
Results: Surgery was primary treatment for 76 patients. The 5-year survival for FIGO Stage I was 93.3%, Stage II 85%, Stage III 51% and for Stage IV it was zero as estimated by the Kaplan-Meier test. Of the 52 women who underwent inguinal lymphadenectomy, 11 or 21.1% had positive nodes and four patients underwent pelvic node resection. Patients with tumor size < or = 2 cm had 16.7% positive inguinal nodes, while patients with tumor size > 2.1 cm had 29.4% of positive nodes.
Conclusions: The right choice of surgical treatment after appropriate staging of the disease offers very good survival rates, while a more accurate assessment of the status of inguinal lymph nodes could reduce the extent of surgical treatment.