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The addition of a six-week course of chemotherapy to the standard course of treatment resulted in a significant increase in the survival rate of locally advanced cervical cancer. A new study shows.
The study, which involved 500 patients from 32 medical centers in Brazil, India, Italy, Mexico and the United Kingdom, was randomized into two groups between 2012 and 2022, and was published Monday in the Lancet journal. He had tumors that had spread to other organs.
The control group received only chemoradiotherapy, the standard procedure consisted of radiation and treatment with cisplatin. The experimental group received treatment with carboplatin and pacitaxel chemotherapy for six weeks before starting chemoradiotherapy.
The researchers found that 80% of those who received short chemotherapy initially lived at least five more years, and 72% had no cancer return or spread. In the control group, 72% survived for at least five years, and 64% cancer did not return or spread.
Most patients experience some type of adverse event during treatment, such as fatigue or weakness, gastrointestinal problems, infections, or low white blood cell counts. Serious or life-threatening events occurred in 59 percent of the group who received initial chemotherapy, compared with 48 percent of those who received chemoradiotherapy alone.
The researchers said it was the first randomized phase III study to show a “significant survival benefit” of using chemotherapy before chemotherapy at a “relatively low cost,” representing a “clinically meaningful improvement.” They say the drugs are cheap and widely available.
“This is the biggest improvement in this disease in more than 20 years,” said University College Hospital Dr. Mary McCormack, lead author of the study. Interview with Cancer Research UK. “I am incredibly proud of all the patients who participated in the trial; Their contributions have enabled us to gather the evidence needed to improve the treatment of cervical cancer patients everywhere.
Cisplatin-based chemotherapy is one of the most commonly used methods to treat cervical cancer. Improve the survival rate from 30% to 50%. Although surgery to remove the tumor is an option, some experts prefer chemotherapy.
“We know that surgery leaves some cancer behind,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, a professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University and former chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, who was not involved with the new research. “If you can treat it with radiation and chemotherapy, you have a chance to sterilize all the cancer in the pelvis. … We have the potential to put women in longer, full remission periods.”
Cervical cancer was once the leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States. In 2008 Harald Zur Hausen.A German virologist won a Nobel Prize for his research that cervical cancer in humans is caused by certain human papillomaviruses, or HPV. This discovery led to the development of the HPV vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer in women.
however, Cervical cancer It still kills about 4,000 women in the US every year. Warning signs include unusual bleeding or discharge.
With high-grade cervical cancer on the rise among them, Brawley stressed the importance of regular cervical screening. White and black women In the US
As in the US Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCervical cancer screenings typically look for signs of HPV, which can cause cell changes in the cervix. The tests also include a Pap test to look for precancerous cell changes.
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US Food and Drug Administration Greenlight A new option This year, patients are encouraged to collect their own vaginal samples for HPV testing, streamlining the screening process.
“HPV is completely preventable with both the vaccine and screening,” Brawley said. None of the 4,400 women who die from cervical cancer each year are screened.
Chemotherapy to treat cervical cancer can come with unpleasant side effects such as nausea, vomiting and hair loss, Brawley said. He hopes the future of treatment will involve more personalized options, such as immunotherapy, to use the human immune system to fight cancer.
“The biggest hope is immunotherapy,” he said. We hope we can help even more women with side effects.