Two hundred and thirty‐eight out of a total of 1012 patients with ‘high risk’ endometrial cancer underwent a complete pelvic lymphadenectomy. When the disease was confined to the corpus, the rate of node positivity was 7%, when the cervix was involved it was 22% and with adnexal involvement was 52%. The recurrence rate with negative nodes was 14% compared to 45% with positive nodes. Age, menopausal status, histology and depth of invasion were predictors of survival after stratification by node status. Node status had no significant influence on site of recurrence. Women who underwent total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy (TAH‐BSO) and pelvic lymphadenectomy followed by vaginal vault brachytherapy had a similar cancer‐free survival to those treated by TAH‐BSO alone, followed by adjuvant megavoltage therapy and vaginal vault brachytherapy.