Randomized Phase III Study Of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Followed By Surgery Vs. Concomitant Radiotherapy And Chemotherapy In FIGO Ib2, IIa>4 cm or IIb Cervical Cancer

OBJECTIVES:

• Compare the overall and progression-free survival of patients with stage IB2, IIA, or IIB cervical cancer treated with neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy followed by radical hysterectomy vs standard therapy comprising concurrent radiotherapy and cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
• Compare the toxicity of these regimens in these patients.
• Compare the quality of life of patients treated with these regimens.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to participating center, FIGO stage, age (18 to 50 vs 51 to 75), and histological subtype (adenomatous vs non-adenomatous component). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

• Arm I: Patients receive neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy on day 1. Treatment repeats every 21 days. Within 6 weeks after the last chemotherapy course, patients undergo a type III-V Piver-Rutledge radical hysterectomy. Patients with positive lymph nodes or tumor invasion into the parametria or less than 5 mm from the resection borders after surgery receive standard adjuvant external beam radiotherapy once daily, 5 days a week, for 5-5.6 weeks (25-28 treatment days) followed by external boost radiotherapy or brachytherapy for 1 or 2 days.
• Arm II: Patients receive standard therapy comprising radiotherapy as in arm I concurrently with cisplatin-based chemotherapy once weekly for 6 weeks. Adjuvant hysterectomy is allowed, but not recommended, in case of histologically proven residual tumor.

Treatment in both arms continues in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. For patients in both arms, cisplatin may be combined with other chemotherapeutics as long as the minimum platinum dose is given.