[Radiation therapy for stage IV carcinoma of the cervix (author's transl)]

Fifty four cases of stage IVa carcinoma of the cervix and treated with radiotherapy were collected between 1971 and 1977. Overall actuarial survival was 16 per cent at 3 years and almost all the deaths occurred before that time. Amongst the factors studied, the initial size of the pelvis tumour and lumbo-aortic lymphography findings were the determing factors in the prognosis. To a lesser extent, the age of the patient, tumour differentiation and the amount of irradiation modified the prognosis. It was thus possible to define, within the stage IVa category, several prognostic groups, the determination of which has therapeutic consequences.