An international research team has discovered that changing the sequence of administration of existing treatments to cervical cancer patients reduces deaths by 40%.
The research, coordinated by UCL University of London, studied 500 patients over a decade in hospitals in the UK, Mexico, India, Italy and Brazil. The research findings were published in the Lancet medical journal.
Half of the patients were treated in the current way, that is, with the simultaneous treatment of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The other half were offered the new modality under study, that is, a short course of chemotherapy before combined chemoradiotherapy.
In the second subset of patients, after ten years of follow-up, it was found that the risk of death was 40% lower, while the probability of cancer recurrence within five years was 35% lower.
These findings are described by oncologists as the most significant improvement in cervical cancer treatment in more than 20 years. Chemoradiotherapy has been the standard treatment method since 1999.
The researchers say that adjusting the treatment regimen based on their study can be done quickly and without much additional cost worldwide.
In the UK there are 3.200 new cases of cervical cancer each year, mainly in women aged 30-39. This type of cancer kills 850 women a year.
Source: KYPE