Chemotherapy was given as initial therapy to 12 women with very advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix and to 19 women with recurrent disease. They received a median of four courses of POMB which comprised vincristine 1.0 mg/m2 and methotrexate 300 mg/m2 followed by folinic acid rescue, bleomycin 30 mg as a 48-h infusion or intramuscular injection and cisplatin 100 mg/m2 as a 12-h infusion. Two of the 14 assessable patients with recurrent disease (14%) had a complete response with no disease found histologically in one, and seven (50%) had a partial response. Although the actuarial median survival of all 19 patients with recurrent disease was 8 months, five patients have remained free from tumour progression for a median of 17 months from start of chemotherapy. Six of the 10 assessable patients receiving initial chemotherapy (60%) had a complete response (confirmed histologically in two) and two (20%) had a partial response. Nine patients had additional treatment with radiotherapy and or surgery. Although only four of the patients remain disease-free at 61, 51, 7 and 4 months, all but two were initially FIGO stage IV. Although cisplatin-induced emesis is controllable and the side-effects of methotrexate can be avoided, the POMB regimen remains potentially toxic. The small number of patients with very advanced disease who are long-term survivors prompts us to study further the role of aggressive chemotherapy as the initial treatment of patients with visceral or nodal involvement from carcinoma of the cervix.