
The results of the trial have prompted calls for the treatment regime to be implemented across the UK and internationally. Photo Credit: Jeff Moore/PA
Health United KingdomRemarkable New Therapy Regime Against This Deadly Cancer
A new treatment regime against cervical cancer is proven to reduce the risk of death by the disease by 40% and the risk of cancer coming back within at least five years by 35%, the most significant advance in curing this deadly cancer in a quarter of a “century.
“This is the biggest gain in survival since the adoption of chemoradiation” in 1999″, says Dr Mary McCormack, lead investigator of the trial at University College of “London.”Every improvement in survival for a cancer patient is essential, especially when the treatment is well-tolerated and given for a relatively short time, allowing women to get back to their everyday lives relatively “quickly.”
The phase-three clinical trial included 500 women from Brazil, India, Italy, Mexico, and the United Kingdom who had tested over 10 years. One group received six weeks of carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy, followed by standard radiotherapy plus weekly cisplatin and brachytherapy chemotherapy, known as chemoradiation. The control group received only the usual chemoradiation. The study showed a 40% reduction in the risk of death from cervical cancer and a 35% reduction in its reoccurrence within at least five years. Among the patients who received a short course of chemotherapy first, 80% were alive after five years, and for 72% of them, their cancer had not returned nor spread. In the standard treatment group, the numbers are 72% and 64%.