Treatment of primary adenocarcinoma of the cervix

Between 1956 and 1971, a total of 74 cases of adenocarcinoma of the cervix was treatedin the Division of Radiation Therapy of the University of Maryland Hospital. Radical radiation therapy was followed by routine surgery early in the study;after 1967, surgery was used only for radiation failure. The likelihood of local control and 5-year survival was not improved by the routine addition of surgery to radical radiation, although the incidence of serious complications was markedly elevated. The results of treatment of adenocarcinoma of the cervix by radiation therapy alone are not significantly different from those achieved with squamous cell carcinoma. Surgery should be used as a salvage procedure in case of failure, rather than on a routine basis.