The barrel-shaped cervical carcinoma

Twelve patients had barrel-shaped cervical carcinoma among 493 new patients with primary invasive cervical carcinoma, at the Downstate Medical Center, New York from January, 1964 to December, 1972. The incidence of barrel-shaped lesions among invasive carcinoma of the cervix was 2.43%. All 12 patients were treated with external radiation to the whole pelvis followed by two radium applications. In six patients an extrafascial hysterectomy was performed 6 to 12 weeks after radiation. Six patients died and six survived (50%). Six patients survived for over 2 years after therapy with no evidence of recurrence. Of these, four are alive and well for over 5 years. All six patients died within 20 months after therapy. The barrel-shaped cervical carcinoma fared poorly (six deaths among 12 patients or 50%) when compared with the over-all Stage I and Stage II cervical carcinoma (87 deaths among 339 patients or 25.5%).