Some Gynecologic Oncologists believe that it is important to remove all of the lymph nodes in the pelvis and along the aorta in all cases of endometrial cancer, but most agree that certain patients can avoid this procedure: women with grade 1 endometrioid tumors that are minimally invasive (less than halfway through) of the muscle of the uterus have a very low risk of lymph node involvement.
Therefore the lymph nodes do not need to be removed. Women whose pelvic lymph nodes are negative have a very low risk of having their paraaortic nodes be positive. This risk is probably less than 5%. Some gynecologic oncologists will, therefore, take out only the pelvic lymph nodes.