A Retrospective Study With a 5-Year Follow-up on the Effectiveness of Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization for...

To evaluate the effectiveness of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC).

Retrospective single-center data on patients with LACC were collected between 2011 and 2019. Patients with Stage IB3 or IIA2 disease were grouped into those who underwent radical surgery (RS) alone, TACE+RS, and TACE+concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). Patients with Stages IIB or IIIA disease were grouped into those who underwent TACE+CCRT and CCRT alone. The 3- and 5-year overall survival rates, surgery-related indices, and incidence of surgical complications were analyzed in each group.

In total, 187 patients were included. Among 107 patients with Stage IB3 or IIA2 disease, 68 patients were treated with TACE. Of those, 53 patients (77.9%) achieved satisfactory tumor shrinkage to proceed to surgery (TACE+RS, n = 53). The 3- and 5-year survival rates of the TACE+RS group were significantly greater than those of the RS alone group (n = 39; 92.5% and 69.7% vs 76.9% and 41.0%, respectively; P < .05). TACE significantly shortened operative time and reduced intraoperative bleeding and average length of stay (P < .05). For patients with Stage IIB and IIIA, who were treated with CCRT, there were no significant differences in 3- and 5-year survival rates between the TACE+CCRT (n = 30) and CCRT alone (n = 50) groups (83.3% and 66.7% vs 84.0% and 66.0%, respectively; P > .05).

TACE improved the suitability of patients with Stage IB3 or IIA2 disease for surgery and increased survival rates. For patients with Stage IIB or IIIA disease, receiving TACE before CCRT did not provide additional benefit.