Adjuvant Radiation Therapy With Ifosfamide in Patients With Mixed Mesodermal Tumors of the Uterus

Uterine sarcomas account for only 2-4% of uterine malignancies, yet they are responsible for 26% of uterine cancer deaths. Mixed mesodermal tumors (MMT), previously known as carcinosarcoma, are the most common of the uterine sarcomas in the United States. Prognosis for these patients is generally grim due to the propensity for early metastatic disease. Patterns of spread are by both hematogenous and lymphatic dissemination. It has been noted that 66% of patients with disease clinically confined to the uterus have nodal metastasis at the time of diagnosis. The majority of patients will die with both wide spread intra-abdominal and pelvic disease within two years of diagnosis. Adjuvant pelvic radiation therapy has been advantageous in controlling local recurrence. One study reports 26% local recurrence in patients treated with surgery alone versus 14% recurrence in patients treated with surgery and adjuvant pelvic radiation. Although adjuvant radiation shows a benefit in improving local control, it has not been found to impact survival. This finding is likely attributed to the high incidence of distant metastasis (85%) known to occur with disease recurrence. Multiple chemotherapeutic agents have been evaluated in the management of advanced, persistent or recurrent uterine MMT. Response to single agent therapy has been less than 35% with the most active agents identified being ifosfamide (response rate = 34.8%) and cisplatin (response rate 17.9%. The use of chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting has been explored as a means of attempting to impact the incidence of distant metastasis.