New cervical cancer treatment cuts risk of death from disease, according to trial results

Adding a six-week course of chemotherapy to the standard course of treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer resulted in a significant increase in survival rates, a new study shows.

The study, published Monday in the journal The Lancet, involved 500 patients from 32 medical centers in Brazil, India, Italy, Mexico and the UK who were randomly assigned into two groups between 2012 and 2022. All had locally advanced cervical cancer, although none had tumors that had spread to other organs.

The control group received only chemoradiotherapy, a standard process that included treatment with radiation and the drug cisplatin. The experimental group received six weeks of treatment with carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy before beginning chemoradiotherapy.

The researchers found that 80% of those who got a short course of chemotherapy first lived at least five more years, and 72% did not have any cancer return or spread. In the control group, 72% survived at least five years, and 64% had no cancer return or spread.

Most patients had some kind of adverse event during treatment, including fatigue or weakness, gastrointestinal problems, infections or low white blood cell counts. Severe or life-threatening events happened in 59% of the group that got initial chemotherapy, compared with 48% of those who got chemoradiotherapy alone.

The researchers say theirs is the first randomized phase three study to show a “significant survival advantage” using chemotherapy before chemoradiotherapy, representing a “clinically meaningful improvement” at a “relatively low cost.” The drugs are cheap and widely available, they say.

“This is the biggest improvement in outcome in this disease in over 20 years,” Dr. Mary McCormack of University College Hospital, lead author of the study, said in an interview with Cancer Research UK. “I’m incredibly proud of all the patients who participated in the trial; their contribution has allowed us to gather the evidence needed to improve treatment of cervical cancer patients everywhere.”