Changing trends in the surgical treatment of invasive carcinoma of the vulva

Twenty-nine years experience with 346 patients with invasive carcinoma of the vulva is presented. More than 90 per cent had squamous carcinoma. The primary mode of treatment was surgical. Two hundred and ninety-six patients were treated primarily with surgical treatment, 120 underwent radical vulvectomy and bilateral groin and pelvic lymphadenectomy, 133 had radical vulvectomy with bilateral groin dissection and 390 receiving nonradical procedures. Thirteen patients had radical operations plus pelvic exenteration for advanced disease. There were no intraoperative deaths, but 16 (5.4 per cent) died within 28 days of the operation. The uncorrected over-all five year survival rate was 66 per cent. In the presence of negative nodes, it was 83 per cent and with positive nodes, it was 38 per cent. Fifty per cent of those treated with exenteration are alive and disease-free at five years or more. Since one-third of the patients presented with advanced disease (Stages III and IV), earlier diagnosis and prompt referral must be encouraged to improve surgical results.