New cervical cancer treatment shows surprising results during the clinical trials by reducing the mortality rate.
According to CNN, a study published in the Journal The Lancet found that adding a six-month chemotherapy course with the standard treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer increases the survival rates.
The research involved 500 patients with locally advanced cervical cancer with tumors that do not spread to other organs, from 32 different medical centers in the UK, India, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico who were randomly divided into two groups between 2012 and 2022.
One group received only chemoradiotherapy, radiation, and the drug cisplatin, while the experimental group received six weeks of treatment with carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy before standard chemoradiotherapy.
It was found that 80% of the experimental group patients survived at least five more years with 72% of the patients did not have any return or spread of cancer. On the other hand, 72% of the patients from the group that only received standard treatment lived at least five years and 64% had no return and spread.
Dr. Mary, lead author of the study, said in an interview with Cancer Research UK, “This is the biggest improvement in outcome in this disease in over 20 years. I’m incredibly proud of all the patients who participated in the trial; their contribution has allowed us to gather the evidence needed to improve the treatment of cervical cancer patients everywhere.”
Researchers believe that the new treatment of using chemotherapy before chemoradiotherapy showed “clinically meaningful improvement” which is not only easily available but at a relatively low cost.
