J Integr Oncol, an open access journal
ISSN: 2329-6771
Volume 8 • Issue 1 • 1000220
Open Access
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ISSN: 2329-6771
Journal of Integrative Oncology
Research Article Open Access
Dubey et al., J Integr Oncol 2019, 8:1
Keywords: Carcinoma cervix; Docetaxel; Chemoradiation; HDR
brachytherapy
Abbreviations: KPS: Karnofsky Performance Scale; EBRT: External
Beam Radiotherapy; ICBT: Intracavitary Brachytherapy; CR: Complete
Response; PR: Partial Response
Introduction
Cervical cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy. It is
the fourth most common malignancy in females in both incidence and
mortality, worldwide. It is being estimated that around 7.9% (527,600)
new cases of cervical cancer are there worldwide and it leads to
approximately 7.5% (265,700) deaths in a year [1]. Cervix cancer is more
common in economically disadvantaged people and constitutes about
85% of new cases diagnosed. In India, Cervical cancer is the second most
common cancer in females afer breast cancer, which leads to around
one lac of new cases every year [2]. In various cancer registries, the age-
adjusted incidence rate varies from 4.9 to 30.2 per 100,000 women in
India [3]. A most common histopathological subtype of cervical cancer
is squamous cell carcinoma which accounts for around 90% cases.
Histopathological grading is done as well diferentiated, moderately
diferentiated and poorly diferentiated cancer [4]. A combined
modality approach is necessary for the management of patients with
cervical cancer. For locoregionally advanced disease (stage IIB, III,
IVA) concomitant chemoradiation is the primary treatment modality.
Currently, the two main modalities of irradiation are external photon
beam and brachytherapy. At the completion of treatment, the central
tumor should receive approximately 8000-8500 cGy. In bulky tumors,
the total dose may reach 9500 cGy [5].
Radical radiotherapy fails to control 35%-85% of patients with
locally advanced cervical cancer. Simultaneous chemoradiation has
demonstrated to be superior to radiotherapy alone. Some randomized
trials have shown that the use of concomitant chemotherapy has
resulted in 30%-50% decrease in the risk of death as compared to RT
alone [6]. A recent meta-analysis reported that chemoradiotherapy
leads to a 6% improvement in 5-year survival when compared with
radiotherapy alone [7]. Cisplatin is one of the most potent antitumor
agents known, displaying clinical activity against a wide variety of
solid tumors. However, despite the use of concurrent chemoradiation
with cisplatin in locally advanced carcinoma cervix, many patients
have experienced locoregional failure (20%-25%) and distant failure
(10%-20%). Te Cochrane meta-analysis has shown that the advantage
of concomitant chemoradiation decreases as the stage increases.
Tese facts have stimulated an interest in exploring other concurrent
combinations with potentially more clinical efect [5,8,9]. Tus, though
a number of chemotherapeutic drugs have been used for concomitant
chemoradiation, concomitant cisplatin and docetaxel have shown
improved progression-free survival and disease-free survival with
acceptable side efects. Keeping these things in mind we administered
concomitant cisplatin and docetaxel in our study group in a hope to
improve local control by addressing the hypoxic population of tumor
cells and also to keep the side efects to a tolerable level.
*Corresponding author: Manas Dubey, Department of Radiation Oncology,
Regional Cancer Centre, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Postgraduate Institute of
Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India, E-mail: drmanas001@gmail.com
Received December 24, 2018; Accepted January 16, 2019; Published January
23, 2019
Citation: Dubey M, Singh B, Kaushal V, Dhankhar R, Atri R, et al. (2019) To
Compare Tumor Control, Side Effects and Treatment-Related Toxicity of Two
Concomitant Chemoradiation Schedules in Carcinoma of Cervix. J Integr Oncol 8:
220.
Copyright: © 2019 Dubey M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and
source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Currently, the standard treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer patients is concurrent
chemoradiotherapy. A number of chemotherapeutic drugs have been used in a concomitant setting along with
radiotherapy in the management of cervical cancer. Docetaxel and cisplatin have shown improved overall response
rates with acceptable side effects. Here we aim to compare tumor control, side effects and treatment-related toxicity
in two concomitant chemoradiation schedules.
Methods: The patients were divided randomly into two groups of thirty patients each. Both the groups were
treated with a combination of External Beam Radiotherapy (EBRT) with 50 Gy/5 weeks/25 fractions to the whole
pelvis along with concomitant chemotherapy. Group I (study group) received concomitant chemotherapy with
injection docetaxel (20 mg/m
2
) and injection cisplatin (50 mg/m
2
) intravenously weekly for 5 weeks followed by HDR
brachytherapy. Group II (Control Group) patients received concurrent cisplatin 40 mg/m
2
intravenously weekly for
fve weeks followed by HDR brachytherapy.
Results and Conclusion: The survival difference in the two groups was not statistically signifcant
(p-value=0.718). Acute hematological and lower gastrointestinal toxicities were higher in the study group than the
control group but these were not statistically signifcant. There was a trend towards better local control and better
disease-free survival with doublet chemotherapy (docetaxel plus cisplatin) as compared to a single agent (cisplatin),
but it was not statistically signifcant.
To Compare Tumor Control, Side Effects and Treatment-Related Toxicity
of Two Concomitant Chemoradiation Schedules in Carcinoma of Cervix
Manas Dubey
*
, Baljit Singh, Vivek Kaushal, Rakesh Dhankhar, Rajeev Atri, Anil k Dhull and Faraz Khan
Department of Radiation Oncology, Regional Cancer Centre, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India