The aims of this study were to identify clinical and pathologic characteristics of patients with uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC) and to evaluate the overall survival.

Sixteen patients with FIGO stage I-IV UPSC who were surgically staged except one at the Asan medical Center between 1995 and 2004 were identified. For each patient, medical records, pathology reports and treatment modality were reviewed. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to generate survival data.

There were 8 patients with stage I disease, 1 with stage II, 3 with stage III, and 4 with stage IV. The median age at the time of diagnosis was 64 years (range, 38-81 years). It occurred in 14 postmenopausal women who usually present with abnormal vaginal bleeding. Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, or a history of hormone replace therapy, known as risk factor of endometrial cancer, were not usually seen. Of the 15 patients who had surgical staging, 12 patients received adjuvant therapy, 2 patients no adjuvant therapy and 1 patient chemotherapy before and after surgery. 1 patient with advanced stage received chemotherapy without surgical staging. The 3-year survival rate was 21.4% and the median survival time for patients with early stage and advanced stage was 31.0 and 14.6 months respectively.

In this patients with UPSC, there was a high proportion with abdominal metastasis and poor prognosis compared to endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Therefore, complete surgical staging like in case of ovarian cancer is vital in determining their prognosis and vigorous adjuvant therapies are required.