Adriamycin plus bleomycin versus cyclophosphamide plus vincristine in advanced carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

The paper reports the results of a prospective controlled study with two drug combinations (adriamycin plus bleomycin versus cyclophosphamide plus vincristine) in 34 consecutive patients with advanced or recurrent carcinoma of uterine cervix. Despite adequate dosage, the incidence of complete and partial remission was low (10% vs 20%) and not superior to that usually obtained with single agent chemotherapy. By adding objective improvement, the over all response rate was 47% and 26%, respectively. The duration of complete plus partial remission was 7.5 and 7.2 months, the median survival for responders 19 and 8.3 months, respectively. After cross over, adriamycin plus bleomycin yielded response in 4/10 patients, cyclophosphamide plus vincristine objective improvement in 1/3 patients. Since the control of advanced cervical carcinoma remains difficult, a combined modality approach with radiotherapy plus adjuvant chemotherapy for stages IIB and III appears worth of trial.