Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are considered the standard of care for the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer (disease that has not spread from the cervix to any other major organs). In locally advanced cervical cancer, patients normally undergo 5 or 6 cycles of chemotherapy, but select patients, essentially due to poor performance (advanced age, multiple co-morbidities) status, receive ≤4 cycles of chemotherapy. Presumably, fewer chemotherapy cycles should adversely impact patient prognosis, and this question was addressed in a recent article in the International Journal of Gynecologic Cancer.
Patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated with chemoradiation were retrospectively identified between November 2015 and August 2020. Patients who received ≤4 cycles (the incomplete group) were compared to patients who received 5–6 cycles (the complete group). The primary clinical outcomes included recurrent disease, patient survival, and distant failure (development of metastatic disease). In the 140 patients with locally advanced cervical cancer that underwent chemoradiation, 22 (15.7%) received an incomplete cisplatin regimen, whereas the remaining (84.3%) received 5 or 6 cycles of chemotherapy. The most common reasons for receiving incomplete treatment were comorbidities/infections (41%), and cisplatin intolerance (14%) related to adverse reactions to the chemotherapy.
The results indicated that the patients in the incomplete group (≤4 cycles of chemotherapy) were more likely to exhibit disease recurrence, experience distant failure, and have worse survival outcomes, compared to the patients in the complete (5 or 6 cycles of chemotherapy) group. In conclusion, ≤4 cycles of cisplatin chemotherapy was associated with worse locally advanced cervical cancer patient outcomes.
About Women’s Cancer Research Foundation
The Women’s Cancer Research Foundation (WCRF) is one of the most active research organizations in the nation. We are dedicated to studying and evaluating novel treatments for women afflicted with breast, ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancers. The WCRF persistently endeavors to make a difference in women’s lives by offering them hope, strength, and progress.
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