| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to describe the feasibility of a combined preoperative chemoradiation program Ib-IIa, bulky and suspicious IIb by radical surgery in patients with stage Ib-IIb cervical cancer. From September 1999 to April 2002, 30 patients with carcinoma of the cervix were treated with preoperative external beam radiotherapy of 45 Gy in 5 weeks. Patients received concurrent continuous infusion of cisplatin 50 mg/m2 for one day in week during 5 weeks of radiation. Radical surgery was performed 4-6 weeks after completion of the preoperative treatment. Toxicity with chemoradiation was usually mild. Two patients developed vesicovaginal fistula, and four developed long-term hydronephrosis that needed ureteral stenting. Clinical response was observed in 100% of the patients (23.7% complete response). The analysis of the surgical specimens revealed complete pathological response in 43.3% of the cases and partial pathological response in 56.7%. The degree of pathological response was not predictable by the degree of clinical response. Thirty months disease-free survival and overall survival were 66.3% and 77.31%, respectively. Patients with complete and partial pathological response were not significantly different in terms of disease-free survival (p= 0.08) and overall survival (p= 0.3). Cisplatin in preoperative chemoradiation is effective and usually welltolerated in bulky cervical cancer and parametrial invasion, inducing a high rate of clinical and pathological complete responses. When this therapy is followed by radical surgery, disease-free and overall survival rates are higher. The latter may be possible only through extensive surgical resection with a parallel increase in complication rates.
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