Pelvic irradiation versus pelvic irradiation with concurrent chemotherapy followed by extrafascial hysterectomy in the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer in Honduras.
e15556 Background: Because of the lack of brachytherapy in Honduras, patients with locally advanced cervical cancer underwent extrafascial hysterectomy after upfront pelvic irradiation or pelvic irradiation with concurrent chemotherapy. Methods: We compared the effect of pelvic radiotherapy with that of pelvic radiation and concurrent chemotherapy with cisplatin in women with advanced cervical cancer. Between 2008 and 2011, 165 women with advanced cervical cancer confined to the pelvis (stages IB2 through IIIB) received either 70 Gy of radiation to the pelvis alone or with concurrent weekly cisplatin. Patients underwent subsequently extrafascial hysterectomy six weeks after completion of radiation therapy. Results: Of the 165 eligible patients, 90 (54.5%) patients received only pelvic radiation therapy, and 75 (45.5%) patients received pelvic radiation and chemotherapy. Squamous cell carcinoma was identified in 135 (82%) cases and adenocarcinoma in 30 (18%) cases. On the final hysterectomy specimen, 69 (77.8%) patients who received pelvic radiation had a complete clinical response with no residual diseases; there were 40 (53.3%) patients who received pelvic radiation and chemotherapy achieved a complete response (p<0.001). In the group of patients that were treated with pelvic radiation and chemotherapy, only 25 out of 75 (33.3%) patients received the required cisplatin on schedule. The complete clinical response rate of the 25 patients who received the complete course of pelvic radiation and chemotherapy was 80%. Conclusions: Treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer in low-resource settings is met with challenges including the lack of brachytherapy, and unpredictable availability of chemotherapy. Only 33% of patients that were treated with the intention of concurrent chemo-radiation were able to receive cisplatin on schedule. This resulted in a significantly lower response in the patients who were treated with pelvic radiation and chemotherapy. In settings where the availability of chemotherapy is not always available, primary pelvic radiation for advanced cervical cancer resulted in a better treatment response.