Use of small pelvic field instead of whole pelvic field in postoperative radiotherapy for node-negative, high-risk stages I and II cervical squamous cell carcinoma

Postoperative external beam irradiation with and without brachytherapy in pelvic node-positive IB1-IIA2 cervical cancer patients: a retrospective clinical study

Background

This study assessed the survival outcomes and recurrent patterns in pelvic node-positive IB1-IIA2 cervical cancer patients treated with postoperative external beam irradiation with or without vaginal brachytherapy.

Methods

The records of 1149 cervical cancer patients received radical surgery between February 2008 and March 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. 126 stages IB1-IIA2 patients with positive pelvic lymph node (LN) were included and a total of 113 patients who received different postoperative radiation therapy were identified and analyzed. Of the enrolled patients, 55 patients received pelvic external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) without vaginal brachytherapy and 58 patients received pelvic EBRT with vaginal brachytherapy. Treatment-related toxicities were evaluated. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier estimates and statistical significance was determined using the log-rank test.

Results

With a median follow-up of 47 months (range: 10–61 months), the group which had pelvic EBRT with brachytherapy had a significantly improved 5-year PFS rate (P = 0.044), but no significant difference in 5-year overall survival was found between the two groups (P = 0.437). In patients treated without brachytherapy, the most common site of relapse was the pelvis. No significant differences were found regards to acute and chronic radiation toxicities, including myelosuppression, dermatitis, enterocolitis, proctitis and cystitis (P = 0.485, 0.875, 0.671, 0.459 and 0.969 respectively) between the groups of pelvic EBRT with and without vaginal brachytherapy.

Conclusions

Treated with pelvic EBRT in combination with vaginal brachytherapy, cervical cancer patients with positive pelvic lymph node had a reduced risk of locoregional recurrence without increased side effects compared with patients treated with pelvic EBRT without vaginal brachytherapy.

Patterns of failure and prognostic factor analyses in locally advanced cervical cancer patients staged by magnetic resonance imaging and treated with curative intent

Earlier we had shown that tumor volume and corpus invasion were important prognostic factors in cervical cancer and that corpus invasion was associated with nodal metastases. In view of these findings, we wanted to examine the factors associated with the patterns of relapse in cervical cancer patients who were staged by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and treated with curative intent. This was a retrospective study of locoregionally advanced cervical cancer patients treated with curative intent. All patients had examination under anesthesia and pretreatment MRI. Potential prognostics examined were FIGO stage, clinical diameter, histology, corpus invasion, tumor volume, and age. Outcome measures examined were times to failure, local failure, nodal failure, and distant failure. There were 249 eligible patients. The median age of the patients was 58 years, 85% had squamous histology, and 63% of tumors exhibited corpus invasion. Median tumor volume was 33.5 mL (range 1–628). The mean follow-up was 4.5 years. Eighty-five patients had relapsed and 89 died (70 following failure and 19 otherwise). At 5 years, for all patients, the failure-free rate was 62%, the local failure–free rate 88%, the nodal failure–free rate 69%, and the distant failure–free rate 74%. Corpus invasion, tumor volume, and age were all highly significantly and independently related to risk of failure at local, nodal, and distant (except tumor volume) sites. In the presence of these factors, clinical tumor diameter and FIGO stage were not significantly related to risk of any type of failure

Management of cervical cancer

AIMS

The aim of the article was to review the current approach to management of cervical cancer.

METHODS

The relevant literature has served as a source for review of different options applied in the management of cervical cancer.

RESULTS

Treatment of invasive cervical cancer is affected by the stage of the disease, which is based on clinical evaluation. Microinvasive carcinoma of the cervix has limited metastatic potential and therefore is most likely curable by non-radical treatment. There is no standard management of stage Ib-IIa cervical carcinoma. Both radical surgery and radical radiotherapy have proven to be equally effective, but differ in associated morbidity and complications. Most often, stage Ib1 cervical cancer is treated by radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy. Laparoscopically assisted radical vaginal hysterectomy has shown similar efficacy and recurrence rates. Radical vaginal trachelectomy with laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy may be an option in small cervical cancer where preservation of fertility is desired. There is lot of conflicting published work regarding the treatment of bulky stage Ib-IIa cervical cancer. While some centers are performing primary surgery as for Ib1 disease followed by tailored postoperative radiation with or without chemotherapy, the others are in favor of primary chemo-radiation therapy. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical surgery has emerged as a possible alternative, which may improve a survival in patients with stage Ib2 disease. Concomitant chemoradiation is becoming a new standard in treatment of advanced disease, because it has been clearly shown to improve disease-free, progression-free and overall survival. Management of recurrent disease depends on previous treatment, site and extent of recurrence, disease-free interval and patient's performance status.

CONCLUSIONS

Treatment decisions should be individualized and based on multiple factors including the stage of the disease, age, medical condition of the patient, tumor-related factors and treatment preferences, to yield the best cure with minimum complications.

Arguments for a magnetic resonance imaging-assisted FIGO staging system for cervical cancer

FIGO staging of cervical cancer is based on anatomic compartmental spread of cervical cancer. This was necessary in the evaluation of surgical resectability in each patient. Even if the surgical resection was not deemed satisfactory, surgical findings and subsequent accurate anatomic pathology findings could be used to prescribe tailored adjuvant therapies. Recently, the management of cervical cancer has been influenced by the evidence from several surgical-pathologic studies and phase II and III combined modality treatment trials. However, the patient selection criteria used in these clinical studies were almost always refined by modern medical imaging and surgical techniques not prescribed in the FIGO staging system. The results obtained from these studies would not correlate with those from the patient population similarly treated but selected strictly along the FIGO staging criteria. This selective, heterogenous, and arbitrary refinement of FIGO staging has certainly given insight into cervical cancer biology but in the process has rendered the current FIGO staging of this disease quite inadequate. Prior knowledge of these factors through modern imaging in these patients could be used in staging and selecting the optimum treatment modality while minimizing the treatment-related morbidity. A magnetic resonance imaging-assisted FIGO staging system for cervical cancer as proposed here could be used for selecting patients appropriately for a given treatment package.

Use of the small pelvic field instead of the classic whole pelvic field in postoperative radiotherapy for cervical cancer: Reduction of adverse events

PURPOSE

We examined whether use of small pelvic (SP) field encompassing only the pericervical regions and upper stream lymphatic will reduce the adverse events that occur with classic whole pelvic (WP) field, in postoperative radiotherapy (RT) for cervical cancer.

METHODS AND MATERIAL

This retrospective study included 72 patients treated with SP field (SP group) used specifically for node-negative status and 46 patients treated with WP field (WP group) used conventionally for node-positive status. Total dose was 50.0 or 50.4 Gy at 2.0 or 1.8 Gy per fraction. Acute adverse events (nausea, diarrhea, cystitis, and leukopenia) and late adverse events (lymphedema, cystitis, ileus, and diarrhea) were graded according to the Common Toxicity Criteria and compared between groups.

RESULTS

Diarrhea (Grades 2-3) and leukopenia (Grades 1-3) occurred significantly more often in WP group (32.4% and 80.5%, respectively) than in SP group (9.2% and 52.2%, respectively). Among the late events, lymphedema occurred most often overall (5-year rate: SP, 47.0%; WP, 49.1%). Only ileus occurred at a significantly higher rate in The WP group than in SP group (5-year rate: 16.2% vs. 3.2%).

CONCLUSIONS

Use of the SP field tailored for node-negative status was suggested to reduce adverse events involving the intestine and hemopoietic system.