Between July 1986 and February 1991, 10 patients with small cell carcinoma of the cervix were prospectively treated with combination chemotherapy using cisplatin (50 mg/m2) and doxorubicin (50 mg/m2) on Day 1 and etoposide (75 mg/m2) on Days 1-3. All patients underwent an extensive pretreatment metastatic survey and had histologic confirmation of small cell carcinoma prior to entry in the study. Seven patients had stage Ib, 1 stage IIa, and 2 stage IIb. Nine patients received chemotherapy at primary presentation and 1 was treated for recurrent disease. In 6 cases, chemotherapy was given and then followed by radiation therapy. Three patients received chemotherapy following radical hysterectomy and 1 was treated for persistent disease after radiation therapy. Patients received a median of four courses of chemotherapy (range 2-6). Neutropenia was the dose-limiting toxicity with 9 of 10 patients requiring a dose reduction. There was no instance of neutropenic sepsis or other major toxicity. Seven patients had measurable disease at the start of therapy. Three of these patients had a complete clinical response, 1 had a partial response, 2 had stable disease, and 1 had progressive disease (response rate = 57%). The median survival was 28 months. At the time of this report, 4 of 6 patients with stage Ib cancers given primary treatment on this regimen remained free of disease (with 28 months the median follow-up). Our pilot study indicates that this chemotherapy regimen has activity in small cell carcinoma of the cervix and should be further evaluated as an adjuvant to surgery or radiation in patients with early stage disease.