Students who received a brief course of chemotherapy prior to chemoradiation—a mix of chemotherapy and radiotherapy—were the subject of a ten-year study conducted by researchers at UCL and University College London Hospital.
They discovered that the chance of dying and the chance of the cancer coming back within five years were both reduced by 40% and 35%, respectively.
According to Cancer Research UK, the preliminary findings, which were released in October 2023, demonstrated the greatest advancement in cervical cancer treatment in over two decades.
“With the use of affordable, currently approved medications, this strategy is an easy way to make a difference.”
Some cancer centers have already implemented it, and there is no reason why all patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation therapy for this malignancy shouldn’t have access to it.
Although cervical cancer has been treated with chemotherapy and radiation since 1999, up to 30% of instances of the disease recur after the current procedure.
Cancer Research UK and the UCL Cancer Trials Centre supported the Interlace phase III trial, which found that a short course of induction chemotherapy prior to chemoradiation may lower death and relapses in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer that has not spread to other organs.
