Prognostic impact of clinical tumor size on overall survival for subclassifying stages I and II vaginal cancer: A SEER analysis

Purpose: This study accessed the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database to determine if tumor size is an independent predictor of overall survival (OS) for patients with stages I and II vaginal cancer (VC). Materials and methods: We identified in the SEER database, patients with available tumor size having stage I or II squamous cell histology from January 2004 through December 2012 with minimum follow-up of six months. Univariate analyses (UA) and multivariable analyses (MVA) evaluated the effect of several prognostic factors, including tumor size, regarding OS. Results: 529 SEER patients were found with recorded tumor sizes, of which 293 (55.4%) were stage I and 236 (44.6%) stage II. UA found the following significant prognostic factors of worse OS: tumor size >. 2. cm (HR = 1.80, p = 0.02) and older age at diagnosis (p. . 2. cm (HR = 2.13, p = 0.04) and older age at diagnosis (p. . 2. cm were 79.2% vs. 66.1% in stage I (p = 0.0187) and 80.9% vs. 51.2% in stage II (p = 0.0369). MVA confirmed about double risk of death for patients with tumor size >. 2. cm (HRs: 1.88 in stage I and 2.06 in stage II). Conclusions: Tumor size seems to predict OS outcome in patients with stages I/II VC. Further confirmatory investigations are recommended to firmly establish its incorporation into currently accepted staging criteria for these patients.