Articles related to CERVICAL CANCER

The Aptima HPV assay uses messenger RNA detection to identify infections most likely to lead to cervical cancer.

“By including FDA-approved HPV self collection tests in the guidelines, they have allowed for women to get some screening even if they do not have easy access to health care.”

“Cancer detection was nearly 9 times higher among older women: 0.92 per 1000 vs 0.10 per 1000.”

In a major stride for cervical cancer treatment, the FDA-approved pembrolizumab in combination with CRT demonstrates significant improvement in progression-free survival for FIGO 2014 stage III-IVA patients, marking a pivotal change in therapeutic approaches.

The GCIG INTERLACE study has demonstrated a significant improvement in 5-year survival rates in advanced cervical cancer, from 72% to 80%, with the addition of induction chemotherapy to standard-of-care chemoradiation.

Dr. Jyoti Mayadev, a professor of Radiation Medicine at University of California San Diego, discussed the treatment of patients with 1B3 cervical cancer at the Society of Gynecological Oncology’s Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer. The discussion centered around whether to treat patients with primary chemoradiation and brachytherapy or radical surgery. Dr. Mayadev recommends a multidisciplinary approach, but notes that level 1 evidence data from Landoni et al. in 1997 showed no difference in progression-free survivals or overall survivals between radiation therapy and radical hysterectomy in patients with bulky disease, 1B3, and no lymph node disease. Dr. Mayadev discusses the benefits of chemoradiation, including potential toxicity reduction if a patient needs adjuvant therapy after surgery. She also notes that with technologically advanced radiation and brachytherapy, long-term toxicities can be minimized, including genitourinary toxicities at 6-8%, vaginal toxicities at 5%, and fistula at less than 2%. Dr. Mayadev believes that adaptive radiation therapy may further decrease toxicities and increase cure rates for patients with 1B3 cervical cancer. There are ongoing trials for novel therapeutics and adaptive radiation therapy, such as the ARTIA Cervical Trial, which aims to decrease toxicities and collect patient reported outcomes.