Aims and background: To evaluate the predictive factors of recurrence in cervical cancer treated with radical radiochemotherapy.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of 56 women was performed. Response was assessed using the RECIST response. Overall survival and disease-free survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyse predictors of recurrence.
Results: Local recurrence was documented in 16 patients and distant metastases in 15. The Kaplan-Meier survival probabilities were 95.1 ± 6.4% at 3 years and 80.4 ± 13.1% at 5 years and the Kaplan-Meier curve values for disease-free survival were 60.3 ± 14.3% at 3 years and 53.0 ± 15.7% at 5 years. Thirty-five patients were alive and 21 patients died, 19 from metastatic disease and 2 from other causes. Complete response after chemoradiation therapy, squamous cell carcinoma and tumour size ≤ 4 cm were significantly associated with outcome. In the Cox regression model, tumour size > 4 cm (hazard ratio 7.48; 95% CI 2.71-20.6; p < 0.001) and partial response (hazard ratio 7.09; 95% CI 2.82-17.8; p < 0.001) were predictive factors for disease-free survival and partial response (hazard ratio 3.7; 95% CI 1.3-10.1; p < 0.001) and non-squamous cell carcinoma (hazard ratio 3.5; 95% CI 1.2-9.7; p < 0.001) were predictive factors for overall survival.
Conclusions: Non-squamous histology and partial response were independent prognostic factors for overall survival and tumour size and partial response were independent prognostic variables for 5-year disease survival.