Between 1955 and 1988, 44 patients with FIGO Stage IIIA carcinoma of the cervix were treated with radiotherapy at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. This represents only 3% of the 1473 Stage III cervical carcinoma patients treated at M. D. Anderson during this time period. The 5- and 10-year actuarial survival rates of patients with Stage IIIA disease were 37% and 34%, respectively. The actuarial pelvic disease control rate was 72% at 5 and 10 years. Of the 23 patients who experienced a recurrence of their disease, 10 had a recurrence in the pelvis only, 11 had distant metastases only, and two had recurrences in the pelvis and distantly. Two factors, parametrial disease extension and discontinuous involvement of the lower third of the vagina were important predictors of prognosis. The 5-year survival rate of 27 patients with parametrial involvement was 25% compared with 56% for the 17 patients without parametrial disease (p = 0.05). The 5-year survival rate of 13 patients with discontinuous ("skip") lesions in the lower third of the vagina was 15% compared with 48% for 31 patients who presented with direct extension of disease to the lower vagina (p = 0.05). This was because of a high rate of distant disease recurrence in patients with skip lesions since pelvic control rates were similar for both groups. No patient who presented with both parametrial extension and discontinuous vaginal involvement survived 5 years. In contrast, patients with lesions that extended directly from the cervix to involve the lower vagina without involving the parametrium had an excellent 5-year survival rate of 73%.