Concomitant pelvic irradiation, 5-fluorouracil and mitomycin C in the treatment of advanced cervical carcinoma

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This was a Phase II study of 24 late (FIGO) Stage IIb and 39 Stage III patients. External beam radiotherapy was given daily, five days a week, using 15 x 15 cm parallel opposed pelvic fields. The first 20 patients had 45.00 Gy mid-plane dose in 20 fractions, Days 1-28, the last 43 patients had 50.40 Gy in 28 fractions, Days 1-43. This was followed by an intracavitary boost of 17.00 Gy to Point A in two fractions over seven days. The first seven patients had concomitant 5-fluorouracil (5FU) 1 g/m2/day (maximum 1.5 g/day) Days 2-5, 30-33 and 57-60, with mitomycin C 10 mg/m2 (maximum 15 mg) Days 2 and 57. Two patients had WHO Grade 4 cytopenia, and only two were able to have full dose intensity. The 5FU dose was reduced to 0.8 g/m2/day, for Days 2-5 and 30-33; mitomycin C was given on Day 2 only. Treatment morbidity with the reduced chemotherapy intensity was comparable with that of radiotherapy alone. Median follow-up was 16 months (range 6-44). Median survival was 35 months. The results were compared with historical controls treated using the same radiation method alone. Two-year survival for late Stage IIb patients was 67% with the combination and 72% with radiotherapy alone; for Stage III, 67% and 49% respectively. Two-year pelvic control for late Stage IIb was 87% (combination) and 84% (radiotherapy alone) and for Stage III, 61% and 55% respectively. In contrast to reports from other centres, these results do not show an overall significant improvement on radiotherapy alone. A Phase III study may not be practicable.

This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit: