Prognostic significance of histopathological classification in patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix

In a retrospective study of 724 patients with histologically proven carcinoma of the uterine cervix from 1980 through 1986, the histological classification and clinical stage (FIGO) were investigated for their prognostic value. The clinical stage was very important in relation to prognosis. The histological type of the squamous cell carcinoma (keratinizing, large cell non-keratinizing, small cell non-keratinizing) did not have any value in predicting survival, but small cell non-keratinizing tumor showed a less favorable prognosis than other tumors when surgery was employed. As to survival, there was no difference between adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma when compared in all patients, but adenocarcinoma had a worse prognosis than squamous cell carcinoma when surgery was employed. The pelvic lymphnode status at operation was correlated with the clinical stage. Adenocarcinoma had more positive nodes than squamous cell carcinoma. There was no significant difference in the frequency of pelvic node involvement among cell types of squamous cell carcinoma. The present histopathological classification of the uterine cervical carcinoma was of little prognostic value in predicting patient outcome.