Induction Chemotherapy Plus Chemoradiation as First Line Treatment for Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer

Chemoradiation has been the standard treatment for advanced cervical cancer for a decade, but one third of women still die from a failure to control systemic disease. In a recent multicentre phase II trial of 46 women the investigators found that, 68% of women had tumours that responded to weekly induction chemotherapy prior to chemoradiation. The induction chemotherapy had acceptable toxicity and did not compromise the standard chemoradiation treatment. In addition, the overall survival and progression free survival at 3 years was 66% (95% CI 4779). These results, together with acceptable toxicity, provide justification for evaluating induction chemotherapy prior to chemoradiation in a randomised phase III trial. The investigators aim to investigate in a randomised trial whether additional induction chemotherapy given on a weekly schedule immediately before standard chemoradiation leads to an improvement in overall survival. The investigators plan to recruit 770 women with locally advanced cervical cancer who are eligible for standard chemoradiation, they will be randomised to weekly carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy for 6 weeks followed by chemoradiation or to chemoradiation alone. The trial will recruit for 4 years with 5 years of follow up period.