Age and prognosis in stage Ib squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix

Two materials consisting of patients with early invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix have been studied in regard to the influence of age and treatment technique on prognosis. In the first material, consisting of 254 Stage Ib patients treated only with radiation therapy, a poorer prognosis was found in the women under 35 years of age. The second material consisted of 274 Stage Ib patients who had been preoperatively irradiated and had undergone radical hysterectomy. The prognosis was (not significantly) better for those patients under 35 years of age in this group. The rate of central recurrence was higher among the younger patients who received only radiation therapy. Analysis of histologic grading and cell type according to J. W. Reagan and S. F. Yao (Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 5, 1015-1020 (1979) ) revealed no explanation for the poorer prognosis among younger women treated solely with radiation therapy.