The aim of the present study was to assess the immediate and long-term results of preoperative brachytherapy and chemotherapy followed by radical surgery compared with those of standard chemoirradiation in patients with stage IB2-IIA cervical cancer. The medical records of 70 patients with stage IB2 and IIA cervical cancer who were treated between June 2006 and June 2010 were reviewed. The patients received either standard chemoirradiation (CRT) treatment (n=20) or neoadjuvant brachytherapy with one cycle of chemotherapy followed by radical hysterectomy [operation (OT) group; n=50]. Further adjuvant chemoirradiation was administered to patients with high-risk disease. Early and late complications as well as survival were compared between the two groups. No serious operative complications occurred in the OT group. In the CRT group, the incidence of symptomatic vaginal stenosis, as well as that of proctitis and cystitis, was higher compared with that in the OT group (35 vs. 4% and 20 vs. 2%, repectively). The median follow-up period was 52 months (range, 11-84 months). In the CRT group, the 3-year overall and disease-free survival rates were 95% [95% confidence interval (CI): 76.14-86.46] and 90% (95% CI: 59.94-73.66), respectively, whereas in the OT group, the respective rates were 90% (95% CI: 72.93-83.07) and 90% (95% CI: 71.84-82.96). In conclusion, the survival of patients with stage IB2-IIA cervical cancer treated with preoperative brachytherapy and chemotherapy followed by radical surgery was similar to that of patients treated with chemoirradiation, but with a more favorable side effect profile. Thus, this tri-modal treatment option requires further evaluation in prospective randomized studies.
Keywords: cervical cancer; complications; radical hysterectomy; radiotherapy; survival.