[Complete pathologic remission after preoperative high-dose brachytherapy in patients with operable cervical cancer:...

The purpose of the study was a preliminary evaluation of the efficacy of preoperative intracavitary high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR BT) in sterilization of the specimen of operable cervical cancer patients enrolled into a prospective, randomized study. Between 2005 and 2010, 100 operable cervical cancer patients of FIGO stage I/A2 (n=4), I/B1 (n=51), I/B2 (n=19), IIA (n=17), and proximal II/B (n=9) were randomized in two arms: in arm "A" (n=50) allocated treatment was 2x8 Gy preoperative intracavitary HDR BT followed by radical surgery, in arm "B" (n= 50) no preoperative treatment was given before the planned radical Wertheim hysterectomy. The rates of pathologic complete remission (pCR) were compared using the Fisher-exact test. In arm "A" 41 patients (82%), in arm "B" 42 patients (84%) underwent radical hysterectomy. The rate of pCR after preoperative BT was 26.8% (11/41), while in the control group the specimen was free of tumor in 7.1% (3/42; p=0.0204). Preoperative HDR BT for cervical cancer patients significantly increases the rate of pathologically tumor-free specimens. Longer follow-up is needed to evaluate the impact of pCR on local tumor control and survival. Our preliminary results support further enrollment of patients into our randomized clinical trial.