Abdominal Radical Hysterectomy as an Alternative Treatment Option for Patients with Cervical Cancer without Access to Radiotherapy Facilities

Background: To compare the oncological outcomes of Chinese patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) 2018 stage IIIC cervical cancer (CC) receiving radical chemoradiotherapy (R-CT), abdominal radical hysterectomy (ARH), or neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical surgery (NACT). Methods: Overall, 4086 patients in 47 hospitals from 2004 to 2018 were divided into groups according to stage (4029 with stage IIIC1 and 57 with stage IIIC2). Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were applied to compare the 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) of the three initial treatments before and after propensity score matching (PSM). Results: The 5-year DFS was worse in patients with stage IIIC2 than in those with stage IIIC1 (post-PSM: 68.3% vs. 39.9%, p < 0.001). For stage IIIC1, the ARH group had better 5-year OS (post-PSM: 71.0% vs. 80.0%, p < 0.001) and DFS (postPSM: 67.2% vs. 71.0%, p < 0.001) than the R-CT group, while the NACT group had worse 5-year DFS (post-PSM: 67.7% vs. 55.3%, p = 0.002). The 5-year OS (post-PSM: 80.9% vs. 70.5%, p < 0.001) and DFS (post-PSM: 70.7% vs. 54.1%, p < 0.001) were better in the ARH than in the NACT group. For stage IIIC2, the 5-year DFS was better in the ARH than in the NACT group (45.4% vs. 30.1%, p = 0.025). Conclusions: The oncological prognosis of patients with stage IIIC1 CC was generally better than that of patients with stage IIIC2, thereby supporting the rationale behind the classification of stage IIIC. In less developed areas, the ARH is a promising alternative treatment option for patients with stage IIIC; nonetheless, the use of NACT is not advisable.