Brachytherapy: Cervical Cancer Treatment Associated with Higher Survival

A recent study looks at higher survival rates among U.S. cervical cancer patients.  

According to researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), they found that brachytherapy treatment, a type of cancer treatment that uses radioactive implants that are inserted near the tumor site, was associated with better cause-specific survival than overall survival in women with cervical cancer. This was based on a population-specific analysis that revealed geographic disparities and declines regarding this treatment in the United States.

Researchers analyzed information from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Database in order to identify 7,359 patients with advanced stage cervical cancer that were treated with external beam radiation therapy between 1988 and 2009. From the sample of 7,359 patients identified, they found that 63 percent of the women received brachytherapy in combination with EBRT, and 37 percent received just EBRT alone. Various factors included whether certain treatments would be used, including younger age, marriage status, age of diagnosis, progression of cancer and certain SEER regions.

The study also showed that brachytherapy usage rate decreased from 83 percent in 1988 to 58 percent in 2009. This was noted as a sharp decline from 43 percent to 23 percent in 2003, according to background information via the study. Yet researchers believe the decline may be related to a decreasing incidence of cervical cancer and an increased adoption of alternative treatment techniques, including intensity modulated radiation therapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy.

Researchers concluded that brachytherapy was associated with a higher four-year cause-specific survival and overall survival than EBRT alone.

"The shift away from brachytherapy is concerning, and has directly lowered the survival rates of cervical cancer patients," Akila Viswanathan, MD, MPH, director of BWH Gynecologic Radiation Oncology, senior study author said, via a press release. "High-quality brachytherapy must continue to be used, ideally with image-guidance, to maximize survival and minimize toxicity."

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More information regarding the study can be found via The International Journal of Radiation Oncology.