Outcomes for Hyperthermia Combined with Concurrent Radiochemotherapy for Patients with Cervical Cancer

Authors

Ying Wang, Wei Hong, Shaomin Che, Yingbing Zhang, Du Meng, Fan Shi, Jin Su, Yunyi Yang, Hailin Ma, Rui Liu, Ying Gao, Jiquan Wang, Beina Hui, Juan Wang, Jinli Lu, Tao Wang, Zi Liu, Hongwei Chen

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of hyperthermia combined with concurrent radiochemotherapy (RCT) and treatment-related toxicity in patients with cervical cancer (CC) stage IB-IV.

Methods and materials: This study was conducted between 2009 and 2013 in patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IB-IV CC. The patients were randomly assigned into 2 treatment groups: RCT and RCT plus hyperthermia (RCHT). Five-year survival, treatment-related toxicity, and other prognostic factors were evaluated.

Results: Three hundred seventy-three patients completed treatment and were analyzed by per-protocol (PP) analysis. The 5-year overall survival (OS) in the RCHT group (81.9%) was better than that in RCT group (72.3%), and the log-rank test showed a statistically significant difference between the 2 groups (P = .040). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis for 5-year OS showed a statistically significant difference (P = .043, P = .045, respectively). The 5-year local relapse-free survival in RCHT (86.8%) was also better than that in RCT (82.7%), but the difference was not significant. Acute or late toxicity was not significantly different between the 2 groups. Advanced clinical stage (FIGO) and larger tumor size showed higher risk of death and a relatively poor prognosis in univariate and multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: The study confirmed that hyperthermia combined with RCT yielded a better 5-year OS in CC. Acute and late toxicity was similar between the RCT and RCHT groups. Clinical stage (FIGO) and tumor size were independent prognostic factors in CC.