Background: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy composed of pelvic external beam radiotherapy (PEBRT) with weekly chemotherapy plus intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) remains to be the treatment of choice for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). However, some patients are not suitable to have ICBT right after pelvic radiation. Locally, active chemotherapy is being given to these patients until they can undergo the procedure. Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the impact of ICBT in the treatment and survival outcomes of cervical cancer and to compare it with active chemotherapy. Methodology: This was a retrospective study of patients with LACC treated with or without brachytherapy in a single institution from January 2002 to December 2017. Results: The 5-year over-all survival (OS) and 5-year recurrence free survival (RFS) of patients with ICBT were both significantly improved compared to those without ICBT (p=0.001 and p=0.038), respectively. Factors that were significantly correlated with adequate response for brachytherapy were non-squamous cell histology (OR 0.65, CI 0.46- 092, p=0.016), initial tumor size of > 5cm (OR 0.41, CI 0.26-0.65, p=0.001), > 50% decrease in the original tumor size at the middle part of PEBRT (OR 1.83, CI 1.2-2.8, p=0.005), > 3 cycles of chemotherapy as radiosensitizers (OR 2.66, CI 1.79- 3.9, p=0.001), > 45 days duration of PEBRT (OR 0.63, CI 0.41-0.97, p=0.04) and > 2 episodes of anemia during PEBRT (OR 0.67, CI 0.52-0.85, p=0.001). Conclusion Brachytherapy offers significant improvement on tumor control and over-all survival for patients with LACC. Active chemotherapy may offer some benefit in terms of delaying tumor recurrence or progression. However, this did not translate to survival impact if the patient was not able to have brachytherapy at all.
brachytherapy ;

Objective: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of gynecologic oncology ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the assessment of early-stage cervical cancer. Methodology: This was a prospective, cross-sectional study of patients with early-stage cervical cancer eligible for radical hysterectomy in a tertiary government institution from November 25, 2020, to August 2, 2022. Preoperative gynecologic oncology (transabdominal/transvaginal/transrectal) ultrasound and MRI measurements were obtained and compared with histopathologic findings. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and positive likelihood ratio were used to check for the diagnostic accuracy of each modality. Results: A total of 27 patients were enrolled in the study. Four were stage IB1 (14.81%), 10 were stage IB2 (37.03%), nine were stage IB3 (33.33%), two were stage IIA1 (7.40%), and two were stage IIA2 (7.40%). Ultrasound has a comparable diagnostic accuracy with MRI to assess tumor size length, width, and height with an area under the curve of 0.789, 0.753, and 0.806, respectively. Both modalities can predict the absence of parametrial invasion and nodal involvement with a specificity of 100% and a negative predictive value of 88.89% and 81.48%, respectively. The results of the gynecologic oncology ultrasound showed good agreement with MRI. Conclusion Ultrasound has comparable diagnostic accuracy with MRI in assessing tumor size, parametrial invasion, and nodal involvement in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. It is a good alternative imaging modality to MRI in staging cervical cancer, especially in low- to middle-income countries.
magnetic resonance imaging