Brachytherapy-based radiotherapy is associated with improved survival for newly diagnosed metastatic cervical cancer

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the value of brachytherapy (BT) in metastatic cervical cancer, as it has not been well evaluated before.

Methods and materials: We analyzed 2391 patients with Stage IVB cervical cancer from 2004 to 2015 by using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry. The parameters were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression models to evaluate cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival.

Results: In general, both univariate and multivariate analysis showed that age, histologic type, tumor size, and chemotherapy were associated with CSS and overall survival (p < 0.05). Further subgroup analysis showed BT alone or BT combined with external beam radiotherapy improved CSS despite the tumor size. In addition, chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy prolonged CSS compared with external beam radiotherapy alone or no chemotherapy or radiotherapy independently of tumor size (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: For newly diagnosed metastatic cervical cancers, BT with or without external beam radiotherapy is associated with improved survival. As an aggressive option, chemoradiotherapy is also a potential treatment strategy.