Combined treatment in adenocarcinoma of cervix

From January 1976 - end of 1979, 427 patients with cervical cancer were treated in the Department of Gynaecology, University of Hong Kong. Twenty-seven (6%) had primary adenocarcinoma of cervix. Eighteen patients with stage I and early stage II were treated by preoperative irradiation and Wertheim hysterectomy. Serial cervical biopsies were taken to assess the response to radiotherapy. All the cervical biopsies as well as the surgical specimens were read by the same pathologist. 83% showed residual dividing tumour cells in the surgical specimens. One hundred and forty-five patients with early squamous cervical cancer were similarly treated during the same period; only 13% had residual tumour in the specimens (chi square test p is less than 0.001). All the patients are being followed up regularly. Fifteen patients with early cervical adenocarcinoma are free from disease. The shortest period of follow-up is 5 1/4 years.