Concurrent weekly nedaplatin, external beam radiotherapy and high-dose-rate brachytherapy in patients with FIGO stage IIIb cervical cancer: a comparison with a cohort treated by radiotherapy alone.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether nedaplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) using high-dose-rate intracavitary brachytherapy (HDR-ICBT) is superior to radiotherapy (RT) alone in patients with FIGO stage IIIb cervical cancer. METHODS: The records of 41 consecutive women treated either with nedaplatin-based CCRT using HDR-ICBT (n = 20) or RT alone (nonrandomized control group, n = 21) for stage IIIb cervical cancer were retrospectively reviewed. The activity and toxicity were compared between the two treatment groups. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were the main endpoints. RESULTS: The 5-year overall survival rates in the CCRT and RT groups were 65 and 33.3%, respectively. The median OS of the CCRT and RT groups were 60 and 29 months, respectively. CCRT was significantly superior to RT alone with regard to PFS (p = 0.0015) and OS (p = 0.0364). The frequency of acute grade 3-4 toxicity was significantly higher in the CCRT group than in the RT group. However, no statistically significant difference was observed with regard to severe late toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: Nedaplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy was safely performed and significantly improved the prognosis of patients with FIGO stage IIIb cervical cancer. This treatment can be considered as an alternative to cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy in this patient population.