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Evidence summaries

Primary Groin Irradiation Vs. Primary Groin Surgery for Early Vulvar Cancer

Groin surgery may be more effective than groin irradiation in the prevention of groin recurrence in early vulvar cancer. Level of evidence: "C"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 1 study. The groin recurrence rate after radiotherapy was 0/25 (0%) compared to 5/27 (18.5%) after surgery. One case-control and one cohort study also showed a higher than expected number of groin recurrences after primary radiotherapy. Overall survival and progression free survival were significantly lower in the radiotherapy arm.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality by imprecise results (few patients).

    References

    • van der Velden K, Ansink A. Primary groin irradiation vs primary groin surgery for early vulvar cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2001;(4):CD002224 [Review content assessed as up-to-date: 5 April 2011] . [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords