Comparison of outcomes between radical hysterectomy followed by tailored adjuvant therapy versus primary chemoradiation therapy in IB2 and IIA2 cervical cancer

Abstract

ObjectiveTo compare survival outcomes and treatment-related morbidities between radical hysterectomy (RH) and primary chemoradiation therapy (CRT) in patients with bulky early-stage cervical cancer.MethodsWe selected 215 patients with stage IB2 and IIA2 cervical cancer (tumor diameter > 4 cm on magnetic resonance imaging) who underwent RH followed by tailored adjuvant therapy (n=147) or primary CRT (n=68) at two tertiary referral centers between 2001 and 2010.ResultsAbout twenty nine percent of patients were cured by RH alone and these patients experienced the best survival outcomes with the lowest morbidity rates. After the median follow-up times of 40 months, 27 RH (18.4%) and 20 CRT (29.4%) patients had recurrence (p=0.068) and 23 (15.6%) and 17 (25%) patients died of disease (p=0.101). The 5-year progression-free survival were 77% and 66% (p=0.047), and the 5-year overall survival were 78% and 67% (p=0.048) after RH and primary CRT, respectively. In multivariate analysis, patients who received primary CRT was at higher risk for tumor recurrence (odds ratio [OR], 2.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.24 to 4.14; p=0.008) and death (OR, 3.02; 95% CI, 1.53 to 5.98; p=0.001) than those who received RH. Grade 3-4, early (17% vs. 30.9%, p=0.021) and late (1.4% vs. 8.8%, p=0.007) complications were significantly less frequent after RH than primary CRT.ConclusionThirty percent of patients were cured by RH alone. A treatment outcome was better in this retrospective study in terms of morbidity and survival. Randomized trials are needed to confirm this result.