Patterns of Care, Prognostic Factors, and Survival Outcomes for Patients of Cervical Carcinoma: A Study From North India

Cervical cancer is the second most common malignancy among Indian women after breast cancer. This study was undertaken to determine the pattern of care, long-term survival outcomes, and prognostic factors for cervical cancer patients treated at a tertiary care cancer centre in North India.

Ten-year data was retrieved for 435 stage I-IVA carcinoma cervix patients treated between 2009 and 2019. A sociodemographic profile of the patients, treatment methods, and conditions at follow-up were obtained.

Data was analyzed using Stata 15.1 (StataCorp LLC, College Station, Texas, United States). Qualitative variables were shown as frequencies/percentages, and quantitative as means/standard deviations. Key endpoints were overall, disease-free, and locoregional survival. Kaplan-Meier curves represented survival. Cox regression models assessed parameter influence. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05, with hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals reported.

Fourteen (3.2%) patients underwent surgery; of the patients who underwent surgery, except two patients who underwent surgery alone, all patients received external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) followed by EBRT (26.4%) or brachytherapy boost (72.4%). Seventy-one per cent of patients received more than four cycles of concurrent chemotherapy. The median overall survival (OS) was 42.04 (0.25-171) months, and the median disease-free survival (DFS) was 32.85 months (1-171) months. The median overall survival was 58.76%, and the two-year and five-year overall survival percentages were 81.34% and 64.52%, respectively. The median time to locoregional relapse and distant metastasis was 35 (1-171) and 37.6 (1-171) months, respectively. Bilateral parametrial involvement was a predictor of poor OS (p = 0.039), DFS (p = 0.039), and locoregional failure-free survival (LFFS) (p = 0.020). Age less than 50 years was a predictor of worse DFS (p = 0.034) and LFFS (p = 0.005), while paraaortic nodal involvement was a predictor of worse DFS (p = 0.045). Grade III tumours neared numerical significance (p = 0.051) for worse distant metastases-free survival.

Bilateral parametrial involvement was the most significant factor for OS, DFS, and LFFS. Paraaortic nodal involvement predicted poor DFS and young age was associated with poor DFS and LFFS.