Purpose: External pelvic chemoradiotherapy and image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (IGABT) were studied in advanced cervical carcinomas. Treatment modalities were defined and related to outcomes and side effects.
Material and methods: From a single cancer center, 138 patients with advanced cervical cancer were recruited. All patients were treated with external radiotherapy and IGABT. A dosimetric study was performed and related to treatment outcome and side effects. Toxicity of the organs at risk was evaluated by the CTCAE-grading system.
Results: The median follow-up was 44 months. More than 60% of the tumors were FIGO stage IIB-IIIB and 82% were squamous cell carcinomas. Largest tumor size (width) was in mean 41 mm and 27% had lymph node spread. The mean total external dose was 51 Gy, and the mean total dose to the high-risk clinical target volume (HRCTV) was 88 Gy. In 130 patients (94%), weekly cisplatin was given in 4-6 cycles. The median number of brachytherapy fractions was four, and in 86 patients, interstitial needles were applied. The primary local control was 97% and 94% after four local recurrences. The overall pelvic control was 89%. The overall recurrence rate was 25% and distant metastases rate was 22%. The overall 5-year survival rate was 65% and cancer-specific survival rate was 69%. Prognostic factors were FIGO stage and total brachytherapy dose (D90) to HRCTV. Late serious toxicity of the bladder and intestine were rare, occurring in only 3% of patients.
Conclusions: The local and pelvic control rates were excellent in this series. The IGABT was an important part of the treatment schedule and could probably not be replaced by increasing the external pelvic dose. Adenocarcinomas seemed to benefit from the addition of interstitial needles. Late serious toxicity was rare.
Keywords: cervix cancer; chemoradiotherapy; image-guided brachytherapy; local tumor control; survival; toxicity.
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