Long-term results of the treatment with physical agents exclusively in a series of cancers of the uterine cervix. Cooperative study of 1,383 cases]

The authors present a study of 1,383 cases of invasive carcinoma of the cervix treated exclusively by radiotherapy between 1970 and 1981. Combination external radiotherapy followed by intra-cavitary applications was carried out. The study was carried out in 9 different radiotherapy centres in France using the same protocol and the same recording systems. The therapeutic results which have been recorded at every stage are among the best obtained until now, with 90% success for stage I after 5 years, 80% success for stage II, 52% for stage III growths. Only 2.1% failures occurred in the cervico-vaginal region. Pelvic recurrences were 7% in stage I and IIA, 14% in stage IIB and 24% in stage III. These recurrence rates are lower than have generally been recorded. Complication rates are also low and became less as the study continued, thanks to better use of dose distribution in individual cases which took note of doses received by neighbouring organs. The prognostic value of lymphography was analysed.