ACOG practice bulletin. Diagnosis and treatment of cervical carcinomas, number 35, May 2002

Invasive cervical carcinoma, once the most common reporductive-tract cancer in the United States, has recently fallen to the rank of third most common. Globally, cervical cancer is a major health problem, with a yearly incidence of 371,000 cases and an annual death rate of 190,000 (1). The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) recently revised its staging criteria. In addition, new evidence has documented conclusively that survival rates for women with cervical cancer improve when radiotherapy is combined with cisplatin-based chemotherapy. This document will describe staging criteria and treatment for cervical carcinoma. For practical purposes, it will focus on the squamous and adenocarcinoma histologies only.