Efficacy of neoadjuvant cisplatin and 5-flourouracil prior to surgery in FIGO stage IB2/IIA2 cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is currently the first or second leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women in developing countries. This study was conducted in order to determine whether neoadjuvant cisplatin and 5-flourouracil (NAPF) prior to surgery is superior to primary surgical treatment (PST) as a treatment option for patients with International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IB2/IIA2 cervical cancer. A retrospective review of 195 patients with early-stage bulky cervical cancer was performed. The patients were divided into two groups, according to whether they received NAPF prior to surgery. The surgical profiles and complications, risk factors of recurrence and survival were compared between the groups. The response rate to NAPF was found to be 61.2%. There were no differences in operative time and intra-operative complications between the two groups, whereas the estimated blood loss in the NAPF and PST groups were 620.1±394.9 and 434.8±233.7 ml, respectively (P=0.000). When compared with PST, NAPF remarkably reduced tumor size (22.5 vs. 93.3%, P=0.000). Furthemore, the ratio of deep stromal invasion was significantly lower in responders to NAPF compared with that in non-responders (46.7 vs. 76.3%, respectively; P=0.004) and in the PST group (46.7 vs. 70.0%, respectively; P=0.004). No reduction of high-risk factors (HRFs) was observed. The NAPF group, even the responder subgroup, exhibited no significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared to the PST group. In conclusion, despite the reduction of intermediate-risk factors (IRFs), neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) with the NAPF regimen prior to radical surgery (RS) did not improve the prognosis in patients with FIGO stage IB2/IIA2 cervical cancer.