Combined approach best for women's cancer
Friday January 22nd, 2010
By Jane Collingwood
Women with cervical cancer fare best when treated with a combination of
drugs and radiotherapy, researchers have reported.
Despite advances in screening, cervical cancer remains a major health problem worldwide.
In 1999, the US National Cancer Institute issued guidelines saying that chemoradiotherapy - chemotherapy drugs alongside x-ray treatment - is the new standard of therapy for cervical cancer. This advice had a widespread effect on treatment around the world.
A team led by Dr Claire Vale of the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit in London, UK, examined 15 trials involving a total of 3,452 women. Women receiving chemoradiotherapy were more likely to live longer after treatment compared to women who had radiotherapy alone.
The Cochrane Review concludes that five years after treatment, 66 per cent of women on chemo-radiotherapy survived, compared with 60 per cent on radiotherapy. "Treatment with chemo-radiotherapy reduced the chance of the cancer coming back or spreading to other areas," they added.
The team believes that this represents the most comprehensive study to date on the effects of chemoradiotherapy in cervical cancer treatment.
Dr Vale said: "We saw clear evidence that adding chemotherapy to radiotherapy improves survival, as well as disease free survival. These are effective, affordable treatments that provide a benchmark for other potential treatment approaches."
The review also indicated that additional chemotherapy might further improve survival rates.
"We suggest that new trials are needed to find out whether giving extra chemotherapy is better for women with cervical cancer or not," said Dr Vale.
Chemoradiotherapy for Cervical Cancer Meta-analysis Collaboration (CCCMAC). Reducing uncertainties about the effects of chemoradiotherapy for cervical cancer: individual patient data meta-analysis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 1.
Tags: Cancer | Pharmaceuticals | UK News | Women’s Health & Gynaecology
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