ABSTRACT
From May 1992 to October 1995, 57 patients with early stage cervical carcinoma were treated with hysterectomy and postoperative pelvic radiotherapy because of the presence of adverse histopathologic features. On prospective follow-up and analysis, the clinical outcome for 50 of these patients showed a pelvic disease control rate of 90.9%, a disease-free survival of 80.6% and an overall survival of 86.3%. Of the 8 relapses, half occurred in the pelvis i.e. 2 in the vaginal vault and 2 in the pelvic side walls. No severe complications were observed, but there was a 20% long-term Radiation Therapy and Oncology Group (RTOG) grade 1 to 2 urinary bladder dysfunctional problem and 28% incidence of suprapubic and/or leg oedema.
It is generally accepted that early stage invasive carcinoma of the cervix, stage I to stage IIA disease, can be treated with equal effectiveness with either radical hysterectomy or radical radiotherapy. However a proportion of patients treated with surgery may be classified as having a significant risk of relapse based on both clinical and histopathologic features.
This article is available only as a PDF. Please click on “Download PDF” on top to view the full article.
