Age, disease stage may decide vaginal cancer outcome.

Women treated with laser vaporization for vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia may be at greater risk of recurrence if they are aged 48 or younger or if they were diagnosed with stage III cancer, compared to their older counterparts and those with less advanced disease.

KIM Hee Seung, M.D., of Seoul National University College of Medicine, and colleagues reviewed clinical data on 68 patients with a mean age of 48 years who had undergone hysterectomy and were subsequently treated with laser vaporization in the vaginal vault. Most of the patients had been treated for cervical cancer and all had vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia before laser vaporization.

During a median follow-up of 33 months, recurrent disease was diagnosed in 18 (26.5 percent) of the patients. Age (≤48 years) and stage III cancer increased the odds of recurrence (odds ratios, 2.07 and 8.42, respectively), the researchers found.

"Although the success rate of laser vaporization has been reported to range from 63 percent to 90 percent of patients with vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia, other treatment methods such as vaginectomy and radiation therapy should be considered when laser vaporization fails," the authors write."Thus, it is very important to predict risk factors for recurrence of vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia in the vaginal vault after laser vaporization."

This study was published online March 16 in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine.

April 8, 2009
SNU PR Office