Addition of chemotherapy to radiotherapy improves survival in women with cervical cancer, results of an audit by Royal College of Radiologists suggests.
Dr Paul Symonds of the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, and colleagues reviewed the case histories of 1412 women with cervical cancer who were treated at 42 United Kingdom cancer centers in 2001 to 2002 (Clin Oncol. 2010;22:590-601. Epub 2010 Jul 1).They compared recurrence, survival, and complications in patients who received radiotherapy alone or combined with cisplatin.
Addition of cisplatin to radiotherapy has previously been shown to be more effective than radiotherapy alone in treating cervical cancer but the long-term effects of combined therapy were not known.
In the current study, overall survival rates were 44% with radiotherapy compared with 55% with chemotherapy. “The addition of cisplatin to radiotherapy treatment of cervical cancer reduces the odds of death by 23%. As this is a curative treatment, we can genuinely say that this is a reduction in the odds of death,” said Symonds in a press release.
The grade 3/4 late complication rate was 8% with radiotherapy alone versus 10% with chemoradiotherapy. Complications continued to develop up to 7 years after treatment in those receiving chemoradiotherapy, but there was no apparent increase in the overall late complications rate compared with radiotherapy alone when other factors were considered.