iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — For women with early stage cervical cancer, the standard treatment is to undergo an open abdominal hysterectomy surgery. But could minimally invasive surgery be a better alternative?

It’s believed that minimally invasive surgery using laparoscopy or robotic assisted surgery can decrease recovery time in the hospital and post-operative complications. However, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, two studies found that women with early stage cervical cancer actually had worse outcomes after a minimally invasive radical hysterectomy than those who underwent a traditional open abdominal hysterectomy.

The studies found that women who had the minimally invasive surgery had a shorter overall survival and a more frequent recurrence of disease.

At 4.5 years after surgery, 86 percent of women who underwent the minimally invasive surgery were free of disease, as compared to 96.5 percent of women who had the conventional open surgery.

The rate of local recurrence was three times higher in the minimally invasive group than the conventional group.

Due to these results, the prospective randomized trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center actually had to be stopped early due to safety concerns, and patients are no longer being offered the minimally invasive option.

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