Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for cervical cancer

None of the current surgical or radiation treatment strategies for cervical cancer satisfactorily leads to a high disease-free survival and a low risk for treatment-related complications in patients with bulky or locally-advanced disease. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) prior to surgery or radiation therapy has been studied as a means to reduce tumour bulk and thereby rendering subsequent therapy more effective. Impressive clinical response rates to cisplatin-based NACT have been achieved with acceptable toxicity and survival. Of the patients treated, approximately 20% will achieve a complete clinical response and many of these patients will prove to have a complete pathological response. Although there are too few randomised controlled studies to determine the effectiveness of NACT approaches, relative to standard treatments.