COMBINED APPROACH TO SURGICAL TREATMENT OF ENDOMETRIAL CANCER IN PATIENTS WITH MORBID OBESITY

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to evaluate a combined approach to surgical treatment of patients with morbid obesity. Material and methods . Between January 2017 and December 2018, 26 women with stage I endometrial cancer underwent laparoscopic gysterectomy in combination with panniculectomy. Results . No episodes of intraoperative hemodynamic instability, significant hypoxemia or hypercapnia were reported. The average blood loss was 236.4 ± 114.8 ml; surgery time: 264.2 ± 57.3 min; mass of the removed flap: 10.52 ± 6.5 kg; length of hospital stay: 11.2 ± 3.7 days. There was no delay in the start of adjuvant radiation therapy. Conclusion. Surgical treatment of endometrial cancer patients with morbid obesity presents significant technical challenges. The choice of surgical access in such cases may depend not on the stage and prevalence of the tumor, but on the constitutional characteristics of the patients. Sometimes surgeons can refuse to perform surgery for such patients and offer them an alternative treatment. Classical laparotomic access is associated with the maximum risk of perioperative complications. Laparoscopic techniques have technical limitations associated, for example, with the length of trocars and surgical instruments. Robotic surgery is considered generally safe, but due to its low availability, it is limited only to large clinical centers . The combined approach to surgical treatment of endometrial cancer patients with morbid obesity is the most effective surgical modality for these patients.