Clinical effectiveness of combined radiation therapy for recurrent cervical cancer

Abstract

Relevance. Recurrence of cervical cancer (CC) remains a serious clinical and oncological problem, especially in patients with advanced forms of the disease. Despite the advances in modern radiotherapy, the recurrence rate reaches 70% within the first two years after treatment, especially in the 31-50 age group. This necessitates the improvement of combined treatment methods, particularly combined radiation therapy (CRT). Study Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of CRT in the treatment of recurrent CC and to identify prognostic factors and clinical and morphological features influencing the recurrence rate. Materials and Methods: A study involving 160 patients was conducted at the Republican Specialized Scientific and Practical Medical Center of Oncology and Radiology (Republic of Uzbekistan). The study group consisted of 80 patients with recurrent CC after combined treatment. The control group consisted of 80 patients who had not experienced recurrence for 5 years. The treatment used was external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) followed by intracavitary brachytherapy, with dose calculations. Results and discussion. The average tumor regression rate was 1.9 in the study group and 10.8 in the comparison group. The highest treatment efficacy was observed in exophytic and mixed forms of cervical cancer (regression up to 9.1 times). Complete regression was achieved in 68.8% of patients in the study group. No acute toxic reactions or grade III-IV complications were recorded. Recurrences were more common with low regression rates, especially in endophytic tumors. Conclusion. EBRT is an effective treatment for recurrent cervical cancer, especially in exophytic tumors. Regression rate can be considered a prognostic criterion for recurrence. Further individualized treatment decisions are needed.

About the authors

References