A study on prognostic factors of uterine cervical cancer

Prognostic factors of cancer of the cervix were studied in 286 cases treated by radiotherapy. The four items stated below relating to morphological characteristics and found to be comparatively easy to determine clinically were selected as prognostic factors. The factors are (1) clinical stage, (2) morphology of the uterine cervix, (3) histological type of cancer and (4) radiosensitivity. Each prognostic factor and prognosis indicated in every case by chi-square test (chi 2 test) a risk rate lower than 0.1%, a significant difference. Furthermore, every prognostic factor was given points according to their grade, and the total points were expressed as a prognostic index. The prognostic index was classified into the mold zone (from 1 to 8 points), the moderate zone (from 9 to 10 points), and the severe zone (from 11 to 18 points), and the five year survival rate of each zone was observed to be 91.5%, 56.1% and 18.9% respectively. Thus, at a risk of less than 0.1%, a significant difference was observed. By setting up the prognostic index, it was possible to estimate the prognosis of every case of cervical carcinoma, which to date had been nearly impossible to estimate by each prognostic factor alone.