Tumor size, depth of invasion, and grading of the invasive tumor front are the main prognostic factors in early squamous cell cervical carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of clinical and histopathologic factors, including a new grading system focusing on the invasive tumor front. METHOD A retrospective analysis of 125 surgically treated patients with squamous cell cervical carcinoma FIGO stage IB was conducted. For each tumor, the degree of keratinization, nuclear polymorphism, pattern of invasion, and degree of lymphoid infiltration at the invasive tumor front were graded and given scores between 1 and 4. RESULTS Clinical tumor size, depth of invasion, and grading of the invasive front had prognostic significance in multivariate analysis, while lymph vascular space involvement, lymph node status, and grade of differentiation did not. Based on clinical tumor size, depth of invasion, and grading of the invasive tumor front, patients could be separated into three groups: One group with minimal risk of recurrence (5-year disease-free survival (DFS) of 100%) consisting of 24% of the patients, an intermediate group with a fairly low risk of recurrence (5-year DFS of about 92%), and a high risk group with a 5-year DFS of 45%. This latter group contained 26% of the patients with 78% of all relapses occurring in the total group of patients. The invasive tumor front grading was reliably reproducible, with inter- and intraobserver agreement of 79 to 87% and kappa values of 0.47 to 0.66. CONCLUSION Clinical tumor size, depth of invasion, and grading of the invasive tumor front were the main predictors of prognosis in patients with stage IB squamous cell cancer of the cervix.